Steve Cooper refused to discuss the prospect of chasing down Bournemouth for second place in the Championship after a 2-0 win over Birmingham helped Nottingham Forest close the gap to six points.
Forest are now unbeaten in 10 Championship games and have won five in a row, after goals from Keinan Davis and Scott McKenna propelled them to another success.
But despite seeing his side climb into third place, Cooper maintained the same mantra that he has done all season – by insisting that nobody within the Forest ranks would be allowed to look beyond the trip to face play-off rivals Luton next Friday.
“We have to go to Luton and not look any further beyond that. We have the chance now to recharge and go into another two games in four days,” said Cooper, when asked if Forest could catch the Cherries – who they are still to face on the south coast in their remaining games – and push for automatic promotion.
“We will not look any further than Luton. I will not look at anything else. We will focus on the things we are in control of. Our recovery, our preparation and our performance against Luton.
“The rest of it is just motivation, that is all. We keep our heads down, we work hard and we prepare for another game next weekend.”
Forest followed up on a thumping 4-1 win at Blackpool and a 2-0 home success over Coventry, by taking the lead after only five minutes, as Davis capped off a powerful run with a precise, angled finish.
Their second came 11 minutes from the end, when McKenna attacked a precise James Garner corner.
“People tell me that we had never won three games on the bounce after an international break so that was a challenge we gave to the players before the game,” said Cooper.
“I think we have been good for what we have got throughout the week and we were certainly good for the win today. The nine points we have picked up have been well deserved.
“Keinan deserved his goal, because he has been playing so well. He does want to score goals, obviously – but we do not get too caught up in it when he does not. From the goal up until half time, we have certainly played better than that.
“At half time we encouraged the players to get back to being more like us – and we were in the second half.
“We could and should have scored more goals, because we got in some great positions. Defensively we were excellent.”
Coventry boss Mark Robins had expressed his envy at the Forest firepower in midweek, with Sam Surridge, Joe Lolley and Lewis Grabban all coming off the bench. Birmingham manager Lee Bowyer echoed those sentiments – insisting the Forest attacking arsenal was the decisive factor in the game.
“If you take the goal away, we were the better side in the first half. We asked a lot of questions of them, but we just lacked a little quality. That was the difference on the day,” said Bowyer.
“Once they got the second goal it was game over. But until that went in, we kept pushing, we kept trying. But the difference was that they had more quality than we did. That is what wins you games.
“For much of the season we have had the same problem. We fought well, we gave them problems – but it is just that final bit. Our problem has always been that quality in the final third. That is something that we have to keep working on.”
Birmingham suffered the blow of losing keeper Neil Etheridge to injury, after he was carried off the pitch unconscious, following a collision with Djed Spence.
“He came off with concussion, because he was out cold the whole time when he was out on the pitch. He has gone to hospital, so he is in the right place,” said Bowyer.
“Some part of Spence’s body hit Neil in his head and he was knocked out. It was a coming together between two committed players going for the ball. There was no malice there, it was just an unfortunate incident.
“It was worrying, because he was not moving. We hope he is okay, we are waiting for good news.”
