Boss sends out Nottingham Forest warning message ahead of Preston North End clash

Nottingham Forest must quickly put the frustration of Friday night’s last-minute postponement behind them.

The decision to call off the Reds’ clash with Bournemouth was made barely four hours before the scheduled 7.45pm kick-off, with Steve Cooper’s side having travelled down the previous day.

But the Forest head coach has warned there cannot be any lingering disappointment from their fruitless journey, with full focus needed, if his team are to get back to winning ways against Preston North End on Tuesday night.

“It hasn’t really changed anything, in terms of preparation,” said Cooper.

“If we’d played Friday, then you might have got injuries or fatigue or whatever else that can be a consequence of playing a game. But that hasn’t happened.

“We changed the schedule slightly, because you get more opportunity to do some training. And we changed the training programme, because players were not in recovery mode.

“You just adapt to all of that as it comes.

“Whether or not we’d played on Friday, and however the game would have gone, we’d still have to go to Preston for the next game.

“That’s just the nature of the Championship - putting one game to bed and getting ready for the next one.

“We’re not looking back at all. Our focus is on trying to get the right plan and preparation done for Preston; hopefully doing whatever it takes to win the game.”

Cooper went to watch the Lilywhites on Saturday as they lost 3-2 at home to struggling Reading - and is well aware of the challenge they will pose.

“This will be a tough game,” he said. “I went to watch them at the weekend, against Reading. They didn’t quite get the result they wanted.

“We have to be ready for this game.

“They haven’t lost many games of late. The new manager is in