Nigel Clough explains what Nottingham Forest did ‘brilliantly’ against Derby County

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Martin O’Neill’s Nottingham Forest beat Frank Lampard’s Derby County at the City Ground, moving closer to the Championship play off places.

Nigel Clough has hailed Nottingham Forest’s resilience in their 1-0 win against bitter rivals Derby County on Monday night, speaking to Sky Sports (25 February, 7.30pm).

Considering that Clough was a former Forest player and a former Derby manager, he will have found himself in a rather unique position heading into the second East Midlands derby of the season at the City Ground.

But it was Forest who emerged victorious, Yohan Benalouane’s winner inside the first two minutes consigning the increasingly under-fire Frank Lampard to another disappointing result.

While Benalouane made the difference at one end, he was also impressive at the other, forging a fine defensive partnership with fellow January arrival Alexander Milosevic.

And Clough has taken the time to praise the hosts’ defensive performance as they restricted Derby to a handful of chances.

“It was a defensive and disciplined performance,” said Clough, who played over 300 games for Forest between 1984 and 1993.

“They defended for 90 minutes and restricted Derby to one or two efforts on goal.

“That takes some doing. They did get it down and play when they could but when you score that early, you have got to look after the lead and they did it brilliantly.”

The result means Forest are just a point and a place behind Derby County in the Championship table with the play-offs in the sights of both sides. And after a mixed start to life under Martin O’Neill, this result should silence the doubters for now.