Steve Cooper takes positives as Nottingham Forest steal late point at QPR[/b]
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper felt Friday night’s late 1-1 Championship draw at QPR was another sign of progress.
Forest have lost just one of their eight matches since Cooper took over as Jack Colback scored a stoppage-time equaliser to rescue a point at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
The visitors dominated large spells of the game, had two strong claims for a penalty waved away and were on top before Lyndon Dykes put QPR ahead against the run of play on the stroke of half-time.
Cooper said: “Every day we’re laying little foundations and I’m trying to build on it every single day.
“And I’m starting to see some repetition in our games, some repeated moves and some trends. I think it’s really important to have an identity.
“We showed the right mentality to get something out of the game and that’s something I’m really proud of.
“I’m never going to be completely satisfied with a point. We’re Nottingham Forest and we’re bigger than that. But you’ve got to look at the game and there were positives to come from it.”
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Dykes’ goal – his sixth of the season – looked like giving the home side maximum points but Forest’s persistence was rewarded when Colback’s 25-yard strike was helped into the net by Jimmy Dunne as the defender tried to head the ball clear.
“If we hadn’t got the equaliser it would have been such a harsh result on the lads with the way we played and two penalty decisions that were huge errors,” Cooper said.
“It was the least we deserved from the game. I’m just pleased we managed to get something.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve got real mixed emotions about the result but if I were sitting here and we’d lost 1-0, it would have been a tough one to take.”
QPR manager Mark Warburton admitted his team paid the price for failing to take second-half chances to add to their lead.
Dykes was twice unable to capitalise after being set up by Stefan Johansen.
Warburton said: “We defended their set-piece threat very well, got the goal before half-time and then we had a lot of chances in the second half to finish it off – and that’s the ruthless side of the game.
“We were creating chances and getting forward. The boys did a great job. They worked tirelessly.
“For their goal it was a speculative shot with a wicked deflection that (goalkeeper) Seny Dieng could do nothing about.
“It’s a dressing room that’s hurting because it would have been three good points and put us fourth going into the weekend, but I saw lots of positives in the second half.
“But I think we’ve got to recognise that in the second half we had three or four excellent chances to finish it off and at 2-0 it’s game over.
“We looked dangerous and had some very, very good chances. It’s about that ruthless edge to finish them off, which is important.”
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