Steve Cooper excited with Dennis’ maiden goal for Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest coach, Steve Cooper has praised his striker, Emmanuel Dennis for his performance against Aston Villa and for scoring his debut goal on the night.

The Forest manager made five changes to the team that lost to Leicester City last week, giving Dennis his first full debut and Serge Aurier time to start

The former Watford striker opened his goal account in the 15th minute when he was fouled by Tyrone Mings and nodded home Gibbs-White’s free-kick, to send the home crowd into a frenzy, a goal which excites Cooper.

“He’s waited patiently. Emmanuel is an interesting player and I’m delighted to give him his start.  I’m pleased to see him score and generally do well in the team,” Cooper told media.

Dennis has been coming from the bench but this time round, Cooper gave him his first full start and he did not disappoint, teaming up with with fellow new arrival, Gibbs-White.

Cooper believes that their inclusion in the attack sharpened that department and made them dangerous on the counter

“Villa had a lot of the ball but Dean’s goal wasn’t really troubled apart from a really good strike because we were in good positions to defend, which is something we haven’t been good enough at.

“We were a threat on the counter-attack, particularly in the second half and we could have done better in certain moments because we have players that can make a difference in those areas.”