Steve Cooper happy to see Keinan Davis’ hard work pay off in Reading rout

Steve Cooper revealed that some training ground mentoring was behind Keinan Davis scoring Nottingham Forest’s fastest goal in 22 years, as his side hammered Reading 4-0.

The on-loan Aston Villa forward scored the first two goals as Paul Ince’s Royals were swept aside at the City Ground.

The first came after only 17 seconds and was the fastest Forest goal since Jack Laster scored after just 14 seconds against Norwich in March 2000 – the Reds’ fastest ever.

Davis added a spectacular second in the 62nd minute before Ryan Yates converted from range with 15 minutes remaining and substitute Sam Surridge finished a fine team goal 10 minutes from the end.

The result left Forest sitting two points off the play-off places with 11 Sky Bet Championship games left to play.

“It was a brilliant start to the game, not just because we scored but because of how we scored. We fell short in the rest of the first half when it came to our performance levels,” said Forest boss Cooper.

“We needed half-time and I was ready to gee the lads up, shall we say…but I read the mood in the dressing room and they were already doing that amongst themselves, in the way that they were talking to each other. They did it themselves.

“But they needed a reminder of the team we want to be – and we were that team in the second half. The game was played in the Reading half. We were brave, we moved the ball a lot quicker, we played more as a team, and I always felt the second goal was coming.

“It was a brilliant second goal from Keinan – and the third and fourth were equally good. We got into good positions and, when we do that, we know we have the technical ability to score.

“The first goal was the most pleasing, however, because we have been doing a lot of work