Seize the moment!
NOTTINGHAM Forest want to “seize the moment” as they prepare for their Championship play-off semi-final against Sheffield United.
The Reds head to Bramall Lane for the first leg on Saturday, with the return tie to come next Tuesday (May 17).
And boss Steve Cooper has told his players they must ensure they have no regrets as they push for a place in the Premier League.
It has already been a remarkable transformation at the City Ground, with Forest finishing fourth after propping up the Championship table when
Cooper arrived last September.
But nobody at the club wants the story to finish there, as the Blades lie in wait.
“You don’t want any regrets, do you? For all of these teams in the play-offs, in all of the leagues, anything could happen – good, bad or indifferent,” said Cooper.
“Whatever you do, you want to come away from it knowing you’ve done your best, you don’t have any regrets and you’ve tried to do it in the way you believe. We’ll be no different.
“Succeeding in life is about taking opportunity and seizing the moment. We’re no different. But we’re really excited, it’s great.
“We went through a spell of winning a load of games, picking up points and we couldn’t even get into the top 10. We were just floating around 13th or 14th. I was thinking, ‘we don’t seem to be going anywhere here!,’ and you’re still looking down a little bit.
“We kept going, broke into the top 10 but couldn’t get any closer to sixth. There was one time where I was thinking, ‘maybe the gap is just too much to make up.’
“Then we win a few games and you’re only five points away. At which point you’re thinking, ‘that’s only two wins.’
“And then you’re three, you get in and then you drop back out. And then we’ve just gone on a brilliant run late on and ended up securing it comfortably, really particularly when you see the amount of teams, and big clubs, who were trying to get in on the final day.
“We thought we would get there, for a while now. Truth be told, we were looking up above, because that was possible as well.
“We gave automatic a really good go, with two games to go. By going for that, we secured a playoff place with three, maybe four, games to go – it was only mathematical. It is an unbelievable achievement, really, to do it with that many games to go.
“I did it last year (at Swansea City) with two games to go, and that seemed pretty monumental then.
“It’s been a brilliant campaign, there’s no doubt about that.
“But we go into the next phase even more motivated to do well.”
COOPER TELLS HIS PLAYERS TO MAKE SURE THEY HAVE NO REGRETS AS REDS PREPARE FOR PLAY-OFFS