Nico O’Reilly‘s sublime brace secured City’s first Premier League 2 win of 2024 on Monday evening to see us move off the bottom of the table and six points behind the knockout places, 16th-placed Norwich City.
The victory symbolises more than the three points, however, with Barry-Murphy happy for his players to have picked up a win following a season full of near misses in a new league format and a lengthy list of long-term injuries to key players such as Will Dickson, Max Alleyne and Lakyle Samuel to name a few.
But the head coach is hopeful that the triumph over Forest will not be taken for granted and instead provide motivation for City’s final five league fixtures.
“The players have shown a remarkable understanding of what they’ve faced and the resilience to overcome it,” began Barry-Murphy.
MATCH REPORT | CITY 2-0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
“I’ve said it a lot but a lot of players won’t have experienced a tough season like they have in terms of results, exposed to a challenge that is so high that it feels uncomfortable so to see them stick at it and overcome it and not be embarrassed by where they are in the table but fight and overcome it is a really powerful learning tool.
“To experience that so young in their careers and that has been the main focus, to educate them on what that feels and looks like and the only way to progress is by educating them on that and seeing them put it into practise and games.
“So this will give them a feeling of enjoyment irrespective of their performance but we shouldn’t take the opponents for granted, Forest provided a stern test so they can enjoy it tonight and then be back in training tomorrow to try and improve more.”
The match was similar to City’s UEFA Youth League defeat to FSV Mainz with Forest also looking to mark man-to-man and happy to let City dictate play and dominate possession.
This time round, however, Barry-Murphy’s side were able to take learnings from the European defeat into the league clash and overcome the opponent’s game plan.
“I think it was a difficult game in a lot of ways because Nottingham Forest saw how difficult Mainz made it for us when they were man to man in the second half so teams will see that and see us as a young team that has a lot of room for improvement in that area,” said Barry-Murphy.
“So for the lads to have to overcome that challenge again tonight and show character and resilience I’m just happy they could see some reward for their hard work.”
