{"id":301918,"date":"2023-12-09T19:39:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T19:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301918"},"modified":"2023-12-09T19:39:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T19:39:21","slug":"steve-cooper-praised-his-forest-players-for-focusing-on-the-task-at-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/steve-cooper-praised-his-forest-players-for-focusing-on-the-task-at-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Cooper praised his Forest players for focusing on the task at hand"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Boss Steve Cooper praised his battling Nottingham Forest side for ignoring the \u201csideshow\u201d of his future to claim a point at Wolves.<\/p>\n
Cooper was reportedly on the brink of the sack after Wednesday\u2019s 5-0 mauling at Fulham but Forest earned a\u00a01-1 draw at Molineux.<\/p>\n
Matheus Cunha cancelled out Harry Toffolo\u2019s opener and Toffolo missed a golden second-half chance to win it.<\/p>\n
It was a deserved point and Cooper, celebrating his 44th birthday on Sunday, was cheered off by the visiting fans at full-time.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to lose sight of how much progress we have made, regardless what people want to write. I stay true to myself, represent the club and the city in the best way and stay on task.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here before. It doesn\u2019t go into my mind, the only thing is the hurt after Fulham and how can we put a little bit of that right? The only thing which is important to me is the continued progression of the club. There\u2019s no one person more important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the team, the spirit, togetherness. If you look at the game in isolation, satisfying and fairly positive. If you add into the sideshows which might be going on \u2013 especially after Fulham \u2013 the players had two ways, to play with fear and hide, or to play with spirt, personality and quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to the players just keep going, we know who we are. There will be ups and downs, we\u2019ve had a few too many recently. It will be a rocky road, I believe we will progress this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn normal circumstances it would be a positive day in terms of performance away from home but we\u2019re disappointed with the chances we\u2019ve missed and not winning the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really disappointed with the throw-in decision before their goal, it couldn\u2019t be any worse of a basic human error. They need to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toffolo gave Forest the lead after 14 minutes when he headed in Neco Williams\u2019 excellent cross, despite Craig Dawson\u2019s best attempts to clear off the line.<\/p>\n
But the visitors failed to build on their lead and allowed Wolves a route back. The hosts dominated first-half possession and found a way through after 32 minutes.<\/p>\n
A penetrating move saw Nelson Semedo and Mario Lemina combine to slip in Pablo Sarabia. He cut the ball back for the arriving Cunha to roll in his fifth goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Forest would have gone into the break ahead if Cheikhou Kouyate had not shot too close to Jose Sa, after seizing on Max Kilman\u2019s mistake.<\/p>\n
The visitors emerged for the second half with more intent and Toffolo should have won it after 69 minutes but headed Williams\u2019 cross over from close range.<\/p>\n
Forest still needed Matt Turner to save from Cunha as Wolves extended their own unbeaten home run to six games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been a real catastrophe if we hadn\u2019t sealed a point at least,\u201d said boss Gary O\u2019Neil, with Wolves 12th in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough game, to go 1-0 down against a team who were here to play very deep. It played into their hands. We responded pretty well and scored a really good goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the second half we lost our way probably. I leave slightly disappointed, we were trying to get more and we didn\u2019t manage to test them as much as I\u2019d have liked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour points from the three games this week is a good return and 19 points so far is also a good return.\u201d<\/p>\n