Joe Lolley sends message to Nottingham Forest fans ahead of promotion run-in

Nottingham Forest news - Forest star Lolley hopes the Reds fans can recreate the atmosphere against Leeds United as they look to secure a return to the Premier League

Joe Lolley has called on the Nottingham Forest fans to re-create the cauldron of noise made against Leeds United, to help their promotion push.

The City Ground was at its atmospheric best under the lights on Saturday as the Reds boosted their promotion charge with a 2-0 win against Leeds.

Forest couldn’t follow that up on Tuesday, suffering a defeat to Charlton Athletic, but have the chance to make another statement as they travel to play West Bromwich Albion this weekend.

The Reds are regularly backed in large numbers, and Lolley wants their support to be just as vociferous in the final 14 Sky Bet Championship fixtures.

“They’re brilliant,” Lolley said on the Forest fans. “Home and away, it’s always packed out.

“When you get an atmosphere like the one against Leeds, it drives you on, it drives each and every player on.

“It does help massively. Hopefully, if they can get behind us they can help us push on and hopefully achieve what we want to achieve.”

Lolley added: “It does make a difference. We went to Leeds last year, they scored after 75 minutes to make it 1-1 and you remember the atmosphere at the time, you look around and as an opposition player, when you see the fans getting right at you, you think ‘right, we’re in a battle here’ and I’m sure Leeds players knew the same on Saturday.

“I’m sure it affected them, if we can create that throughout the season I’m sure a lot of teams won’t want to come here.”

Forest slipped to fifth in the table after their midweek defeat, but playing in the early kick-off on Saturday opens the opportunity for Sabri Lamouchi’s men to go second – at least temporarily.

In a season of many highs so far, Lolley says the noise against Leeds will stick in the memory.

“It was probably the best (atmosphere) I’ve played in,” he said. “Maybe Derby at home last year, brilliant as well.

“In terms of my career it was right up there, it was a great night.

“I think it will live in the memory and in terms of a great night of football, everyone will remember what an atmosphere and what a night it was.”