ZENO Ibsen Rossi admits Saturday's clash with Nottingham Forest was "the biggest game I have played" after making a winning Championship debut with Cherries.

Ibsen Rossi, who spent time as a youngster at Brentford and Southampton before joining Cherries' academy in 2017, has made the step up into the club's first team this season.

The 20-year-old spent last season on loan at Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership, making 20 appearances in league and cup.

He featured heavily for Cherries during pre-season under new boss Scott Parker, before making his senior bow in the Carabao Cup win over MK Dons last month.

And the centre-back now has Championship experience under his belt, stepping in as a late replacement for Adam Smith, who withdrew from the squad due to illness.

Ibsen Rossi continued his 100 per cent winning record in the first team, as Cherries saw off Nottingham Forest 2-1 in front of more than 25,000 fans at the City Ground, despite a second-half red card shown to David Brooks.

He told the Daily Echo: “It has been gradually building up for me with my loan last year, pre-season games, cup games and safe to say this is probably the biggest game I have played, biggest stadium, fans.

“I was excited about that but at the end of the day you just have to back yourself and treat it like another game.”

He added: "I think we made it difficult for ourselves obviously with the 10 men but league debut, I really enjoyed it and times like that are what you have worked hard towards.

“It is my Championship debut. I have worked really hard to get to this point and I have always dreamt of playing in front of an away crowd, winning on the road and I just hope there is a lot more to come.”

Discussing his late call into the side, Ibsen Rossi said : “It was quite late, but the way the gaffer wants us to be and the mentality around the team is that everyone is ready, everyone is involved, whether you played the last week or you didn’t, be ready, so I was ready.

“The team was only announced on Saturday, but like I said through the week you just get yourself ready for it.”

Despite being without eight first-team players for each of the first two league games this season, Cherries already have four points on the board.

“I don’t think we can get carried away," insisted Ibsen Rossi.

"We are only two games in. It is a long old season and it is only one game but we can be happy about the way we saw it out and the we stuck together, especially when we were down to 10 men.”

Discussing the instructions given by Parker for the final half an hour, Ibsen Rossi added: "Phil (Billing) went down and we grouped up near the sideline and the gaffer just said it is not really tactical at that point, it is just about sticking together, showing a bit of heart and desire and I feel like we did that.

“Ideally I don’t think we go down to 10 men but when your backs are against the wall, you have to kind of enjoy that feeling (of dealing with pressure) and that’s when you really have to do your job (as a defender).”

It has been tradition at Cherries for a new player to sing a song in front of their teammates when they are integrated into the first-team squad.

But Ibsen Rossi has so far managed to swerve that task.

He said: "You might have thrown me under the bus there by bringing it up, but I have got away with it so far!"