Kevin Blackwell got the response he wanted from his ailing squad against Bristol City and said:

"I thought we were excellent today and really took the game to them. At half-time I asked the lads to try and be more purposeful in the final third of the pitch because we had had a lot of possession around the edge of their area without really penetrating.

"And we started the second-half well and kept going and it was the best we have played in quite a while. The team looked accomplished and the movement and chances we created were very pleasing.

"We had the players who can play with the ball all wanted to be on the ball this afternoon. Players like Yeates are comfortable with the ball at his feet, Lee Williamson the same, and Jamie Ward was a bit more like his old self - there was so much more purpose and freedom of expression from us.

Darius Henderson, recalled to the starting line-up after being on the bench in midweek, netted United's second goal and put in a shift worthy of his manager's belief in him:

"He showed that he is so much more than just a big target man. I spoke to him beforehand and asked him to go out and show people how good he is and he even dropped too deep at times."

Blackwell kept the same defence which in itself is a rarity these days and said afterwards:

"I was so proud of the back four considering how little they have played together and young Kyle Bartley came through it with flying colours.

"For an eighteen year old he showed great composure under terrific physical pressure from Chris Iwelumo. Perhaps Gary Johnson thought that was going to be our Achilles heel but Kyle met the challenge and played from there.

"But he also had some valuable help from Nyron Nosworthy who talked him through his two games with us.

"I thought Bristol City came for a point and we had to grind them down, but we were patient and weren't afraid to take an extra touch to try and make something happen instead of panicking."

With Bartley becoming the 20th debutant already this season and thus demonstrating the problems faced by the frustrated manager who knows again that injury will cause more disruption in midweek:

"I would love to keep this set of players fit and keep the same team because it showed real potential, but that is not going to happen for Tuesday at Forest because two players from today are injured and already out."