JORDAN Zemura was pleased with how he recovered from a slow start to be named man-of-the-match in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.

The Zimbabwe international struggled at times defensively early on against the pace of Serge Aurier and Brennan Johnson.

But the 23-year-old improved as the contest wore on, having a big impact at the other end of the field.

His cross for Kieffer Moore should have registered an assist, but the striker headed over the bar. Zemura then himself went close, having a shot blocked on the line by Joe Worrall.

Reflecting on his afternoon’s display, Zemura told the Daily Echo: “I think that’s football. The first action, I think Serge Aurier nutmegged me and I was like oh gosh, here we go!

“But that’s just football, you’ve got to dust yourself down.

“I think I just said to myself before the game, just be counted for, stand up and be ready.

“There’s going to be moments you get beaten or moments where you give away a pass, but I think the main thing for me was I know what I bring on the field, energy-wise and stuff like that.

“So I thought, if I lose the ball or give the ball away, it doesn’t matter, it happens.

“But what are my next actions? That’s what they were screaming on the side and I had Jack Stephens in the centre just telling me to keep on going, next action.

“That just helped me keep going throughout the whole game. I’ve got a lot of energy, so I just wanted to exert that all.”

Discussing the draw, in which Sam Surridge popped up to cancel out Jaidon Anthony’s opener, Zemura added: “Obviously it’s a bit tough to take because we worked really hard.

“You could see the desire from the whole team and everyone was just at it.

“The points were literally there for the taking and a team like Forest, they’ve got good players, talented young players, they just managed to get the goal around the 84th minute.”