Nottingham Forest

Mark Warburton enjoys first East Midlands derby and compares it to Old Firm matches

Nottingham Forest head coach Mark Warburton has told the Nottingham Post that he enjoyed his first East Midlands derby and that it was similar to the Old Firm games.

Warburton was appointed as the new manager of Forest just a few days ago and was thrown straight into the fire with his first game being the East Midlands derby match against Derby County. They got off to the perfect start though when after just five minutes Zach Clough scored the opener.

However on the other touchline Gary Rowett was also having his first game as manager and he didn’t want to lose, and his side was able to turn things around with goals from Matej Vydra and Dave Nugent giving them the lead. And it seemed like it would be Derby who would win this match of pride but late on Daniel Pinillos headed in an equaliser and sent the City Ground fans into ecstasy.

After the match Warburton revealed how much he enjoyed this match, saying he got a similar feeling to what he got when he managed Rangers in their Old Firm derbies against Celtic.

He said: “I did enjoy it. You have to. People used to ask me the same thing about Old Firm games. You have to enjoy it. Otherwise why are you in football? There was so much at stake. But if you can’t enjoy games like that? It was magnificent. It was a good quality game of football with plenty of drama,”

“The players were asked to be brave on the ball and they were. They showed their quality. All over the park, they showed their quality.”

“The likes of David Vaughan controlled the game in the first half. Ben Brereton had the energy to take on the full-back, Chris Cohen came back tremendously, on his return to the side.”

“Danny Fox and Joe Worrall were brave when they got on the ball, young Jordan (Smith) was as well – it went right through the side, I can’t miss anyone out. The full-backs did their job well.”

“The positive is that they can take on board what we ask of them and they can deliver a performance like they did in the first half and in the final 20 minutes.”

“The players have had a lot to deal with, when it comes to managerial changes and the fact that this was a local derby.”

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