Nottingham Forest took full advantage of visitor's Burnley being reduced to ten men after 32 minutes with the dismissal of Marvin Bartley to record a 2-0 win, their first three points in ten games. That poor run of form had seen Forest drop out of the top six play-off positions leaving boss Billy Davies hopeful the promotion push is back on track.
He said: "I said we can't ask any more of these players, they've given us everything they've got. In the first half, the nervousness showed but they're a young side.
"Great three points, though, and hopefully it'll settle them down.
"Hopefully our bag of misfortune is now over because we've had plenty of that over the last number of weeks.
"There is still a long way to go and a lot to play for."
Davies was quick to point out that Forest were missing a host of experienced players and believes that could explain their recent slump.
He said: "Tonight, there's no doubt we missed the pace of (Nathan) Tyson, (Paul) Anderson and (Robbie) Findley - that's a huge amount of pace out of the side and (the suspended Chris) Cohen is a big loss obviously. "(Dexter) Blackstock has been forgotten about so there's top players missing which always makes life difficult.
"When you've got an 18-man squad, you expect reaction and that's exactly what we've got.
"I can't fault them. They're fantastic to work with and they've given us everything they've got."
Bartley's dismissal arguably changed the game and Davies thinks, at first glance, the decision was correct.
"At the time I thought it was nasty," he said. "I'd like to see it again. I can't give an honest answer until I see it but my initial reaction was it looked a bit nasty."
His Clarets opposite number Eddie Howe thought the dismissal was very harsh.
He said: "I've only seen it at live speed but I thought it was extremely, extremely harsh - I didn't even think it was a yellow, let alone a red.
"He's gone in one-footed, his feet haven't left the floor, that was my view of it anyway but I stand to be corrected if I see it again."
Even in defeat, the Burnley boss was pleased at how Burnley responded to their 4-0 humbling at Leicester over the weekend.
"I thought, especially with 11, we were excellent. We controlled the game, passed the ball very well," he said.
"It's easy to say but if we'd have kept 11 on the pitch, I'd like to think we'd have eventually worn Forest down.
"What pleased me tonight was the work ethic of the players, they all put a shift in, especially with 10 men.
"I did question after the Leicester game how much pride there was at stake so to get that reaction was pleasing."
