Nottingham Forest 1 Barnsley 0: Daniel Stendel 'proud of performance' despite defeat

The Reds fell to a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest with Ben Watson's second half goal sending them to a fifth loss of the season.

But it was an impressive performance at the City Ground and only an inspired performance from Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba stopped Stendel's side taking something back up the M1.

Indeed, Stendel reckons that was as close to the best his side will play.

“I cannot imagine that we can play much better than we did in the second half,” said the Barnsley boss. “It was a disappointing result but a very good performance.

“I am proud of this performance and of the attitude from my team. We created chances, we pressed in the second half and played some good passing football. We played well, but we needed to score to cap things off.

“When we conceded the goal, it was very difficult away from home - you could feel the Nottingham atmosphere as it was a special day for Nottingham.

“We have just got to work better and work harder.

“It was a great performance and I am disappointed for the players because they played with passion and applied pressure on Forest in the second half.

“We will win more games than we lose if we play as we did in the second half. I know that.”

Forest: Samba, Cash, Dawson, Worrall, Ribeiro, Watson, Sow, Lolley (Semedo 81), Carvalho (Ameobi 70), Thiago Silva (Adomah 60), Grabban. Unused subs: Muric, Figueiredo, Bostock, Robinson.

Barnsley: Collins, J Williams (Chaplin 71), Halme (McGeehan 77), Andersen, Pinillos, Sibbick, Mowatt, Brown, Woodrow (Schmidt 72), Thomas, Wilks. Unused subs: Walton, McGeehan, Bahre, Chaplin, Schmidt, Oduor, Thiam.

Attendance: 29,202

Referee: Jarred Gillett