Cooper: United we stand in push for top flight

FOREST BOSS PRAISES SQUAD’S TOGETHERNESS AS THEY PREPARE FOR SECOND LEG AGAINST BLADES WITH WEMBLEY PLAY-OFF FINAL AT STAKE

HEAD coach Steve Cooper takes confidence from the unity of his Nottingham Forest squad as they aim to keep their promotion dream alive.

The Reds are one step away from reaching Wembley, holding a 2-1 advantage as they host Sheffield United in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final tonight (7.45pm).

They have already made huge strides since Cooper took charge.

Attacking football, a never-saydie attitude and a strong sense of belief have typified their rise up the Championship table under the Welshman.

And now they will try to harness all of that when they face the Blades at the City Ground tonight in a bid to reach the play-off final.

Forest have shown they can cope with being in the spotlight, having taken on Premier League opposition in the FA Cup.

They have also proved they can handle adversity, dealing with injury set-backs and shaking off any hangover from missing out on automatic promotion. Cooper says their mentality is not in question.

“I know how much they care,” he said. “I know how hard they work and how together they are. And how much they support each other.

“I know there’s a really good group of players there. A good team.

“I’m lucky that I see them every day, whereas everyone else just sees them on a match day. Knowing how they are, and how together they are, gives me a lot of confidence.

“I know it does for them as well. That’s good, because you need confidence, you need the right mentality, you need the good feeling that those things give you.

“Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage to help us succeed. That’s been our approach to any game, so this will be no different.”