Steve Cooper issues clear message to Nottingham Forest after defeat at Luton Town

Nottingham Forest’s outside automatic promotion hopes were largely derailed by a 1-0 defeat at Luton Town on Saturday lunchtime.

Kal Naismith’s spot kick in the closing exchanges of the first half proved decisive, although the Reds were hard done by when Djed Spence’s finish was wrongly ruled out for offside, due to Fred Onyedinma’s deliberate attempt to play the ball.

Steve Cooper knows this territory very well from his days at Swansea City and explained how his approach has not altered, despite the loss, when he spoke to The Athletic.

He said: “It is a logical thing.

“If you think about anything beyond what is next, you take your eye off the ball.

“What is next? You just try to focus on what you can control.

“I know I am a broken record and I probably annoy a few people when I say the same things.

“But it is just something we believe in.

“The real message that I am trying to give the players is: stick to the plan.

“Be calm, be focused, do your work and look after yourself as an individual.

“Then you have the best chance of contributing in a positive way.

“We will keep our bubble close.”

The gap to Bournemouth in second is now seven points with six games remaining, if Forest can bounce back it is certainly not over.

The Verdict

It was a very frustrating afternoon for a multitude of reasons at Kenilworth Road.

On the balance of play, and chances created from open play in particular, the Reds were much the better side and Philip Zinckernagel’s introduction from the bench in the second half caused a lot of problems for the hosts.

The performance was there for sure, and they can now turn their attention to hosting West Bromwich Albion on Monday, hoping to reignite their automatic promotion tilt.

It speaks to the job that