Steve Cooper singles out key Nottingham Forest performances in Blackburn Rovers victory

Forest came out on top against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to move into the play-off places on Wednesday evening. 

Garner put Forest in front with a 22nd minute strike, before Brennan Johnson sealed the three points with a 90th minute penalty. 

However, it was Davis and Garner that Cooper was most pleased with following the victory. 

“It was a tough game but we deserved to win. They were second in the league, have one of the top goalscorers, and they’re at home. We had to roll our sleeves up and deal with it and we did,” said Cooper, via the Nottingham Forest official website. 

“We also knew we needed to show quality to create chances ourselves. Keinan Davis did brilliant for the first goal and then Jimmy Garner has shown great composure to finish. We got into good positions a lot, particularly when they went to ten men.”

Cooper still had reservations over the entire performance and didn’t let himself get carried away with the momentous result. 

“If I want to be a bit critical, we should have shown a bit more of that quality in the second half and then we could possibly have run away with the game,” added the 42-year old.  

“Sam Surridge hasn’t come here to be a sub but he had a really positive contribution – he’s done well for the penalty and Brennan puts it away.

“It’s the first time we’ve beaten a team in the top three for two years and it was important to get over that.”

This victory moved Nottingham Forest into sixth place in the league and within seven points of third place Blackburn. 

Up next for Forest is the visit of Stoke City to the City Ground on February 12. 

Davis has done very well since arriving to Forest in January, and Garner has had a great season on loan from Manchester United.

Cooper has played a