Millwall defender Alex Pearce says Nottingham Forest showed why they are towards the business end of the Sky Bet Championship in their clash on Friday night.
The Reds were held to a 2-2 draw with the Lions at The Den in their last match, with both sides having opportunities to win the game.
Shaun Williams opened the scoring for the home side in the 15th minute, and Millwall performed the best in the first half in the capital.
Forest stayed in the game, and a second half brace from substitute Lewis Grabban almost put Forest on course for a win.
But Millwall equalised in stoppage time through Aiden O’Brien, which meant the points were shared at The Den.
The stalemate means Forest drop to fifth place from fourth in the Championship table, but remain on course to mount a challenge for promotion to the Premier League.
Pearce, who formerly played for Forest’s arch rivals Derby County prior to joining Millwall, says he can see why Forest are in the position they are in the league standings.
“The first half we were outstanding, we moved the ball really well which is what we’ve been trying to implement in training and into our games of late,” Pearce told News at Den . “I thought we did that very well.
“We were a threat from set-plays, scored a great goal through Willo. Going into the break we should have been out of sight. When it’s only 1-0 you’re always in danger.
“They’re a top side, they’re fourth in the league for a reason and are going to have a spell. Second half they did that. They performed better than us second half.
“I was disappointed with the goals we conceded. What I will say is we showed fantastic character to come back, a never-say-die attitude.
“I’m really pleased for Aiden O’Brien because he’s been training really well of late. He deserves that.
“They brought on quality in [Joe] Lolley and Grabban. They were a real threat, we had to be on our toes. I thought Muzza [Murray Wallace] dealt with Lolley well on the whole.
“We’ve got to look at our second-half performance and analyse it. We could have had more control, we didn’t keep the ball well enough. When we did have bits of play, probed, switched it, we managed to get in but didn’t quite do that enough second half.”
