Cooper real Kein for star man to keep on delivering the goods
FOREST boss Steve Cooper does not know if Keinan Davis will be staying at the club next season – but he plans to make the most of him while he is there.
The on-loan Aston Villa striker, 24, carried on his scintillating form to provide the platform for Forest’s fifth win in a row.
Cooper’s men leapt up to third place after going 10 games unbeaten – and are now just six points behind second-placed Bournemouth.
And Davis made the most of his goal against Villa’s arch-rivals Birmingham.
It was a superb effort after five minutes as he powered his way in on goal from the left and scored with a powerful angled drive.
Then he stood in front of the Birmingham fans to milk the celebration.
A late rare goal from defender Scott McKenna sealed the points.
And there was a scare for Blues when keeper Neil Etheridge had to be carried off on a stretcher after he collided with Forest wide man Djed Spence.
Etheridge was taken to hospital with concussion after a delay of around eight minutes.
But Cooper hailed another strong display from Davis and added: “Keinan deserved that goal the way he’s been playing recently.”
Asked if he was unstoppable at the moment, the Forest boss said: “I hope so, because that would bode well for us.”
But he did not comment on speculation that Davis will be out of the picture next season.
Cooper added: “I won’t talk about what’s going on at Villa, I’m just glad we’ve got him here at the moment.
“We’ll enjoy him while he’s here.
“He’s been good, he’s got strong, positive aspects to his game.
“There’s confidence and momentum and he’s putting that to good use.”
The former Swansea boss will not allow himself to look further than the next game – but has challenged his players to keep their run going.
He said: “Apparently that’s the first time we’ve taken nine points after an international break, so that’s encouraging.
“We have got to focus on being the best version of ourselves we can be.
“If we do that, we know we can dominate and win games – and that’s what we need to do now.
“But we can’t take it for granted – so let’s keep doing it.
“The team selection is getting tougher though, I had a bit of a sleepless night and had a dilemma – but I kept an unchanged side.”
Brum boss Lee Bowyer feared the worst for his keeper when Etheridge needed treatment.
He said: “It was a worry because he wasn’t moving. He was out cold and was taken to hospital. So he’s in the right place.”
N FOREST: Samba 6; Worrall 7, Figueiredo 7, McKenna 8; Spence 8, Yates 8, Garner 8, Colback 8; Zinckernagel 8 (Lolley 81st); Johnson 7 (Grabban 81st), Davis 8 (Surridge 81st)
BIRMINGHAM: Etheridge 6 (Trueman (68th) 5); Gordon 5, Roberts 6, Colin 6; Hernandez 5 (Graham (75th)
5), Gardner 6, Bacuna 6, Sunjic 6, Pedersen 6; Richards 5 (Jutkiewicz 81st), Hogan 5 (Deeney 81st)
STAR MAN: Scott McKenna
REF: G Ward