Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi praised John Bostock’s “mentality” as the midfielder made a rare appearance against Middlesbrough.
The 28-year-old came off the bench in the Reds’ 2-2 draw at the Riverside Stadium on Monday night, pulling on the Garibaldi for only the sixth time this season.
Bostock made the switch to the City Ground last summer, on loan from Toulouse, but has found himself down the pecking order amid some tough competition in the centre of the pitch.
He reportedly came close to joining Charlton Athletic on loan in January, only for a switch to fall through.
But he was called upon in the north east as Forest were without Samba Sow and Tiago Silva through injury, with Bostock getting his first run-out since the end of November, when he was a substitute in the 4-0 victory over QPR.
“Everything is difficult. It is difficult for those who play all the games and it is difficult for those who don’t play a lot,” said Lamouchi.
“He came in with the right mentality.
“He tried to give us the best.”
The Frenchman, though, was left frustrated by a below-par performance from his side against struggling Boro.
Ryan Yates handed the visitors the lead, only for them to concede two goals in four minutes just before half-time.
It took a late equaliser from Lewis Grabban to rescue a point, leaving the Reds eight points behind second-placed Leeds United going into Friday’s clash with Millwall.
“When you score, you have done the most important thing,” said Lamouchi.
“After that, you need to manage the result and play with your mind; not to play like kids and do stupid things - stupid fouls, stupid mistakes.
“It was wrong, but we still got one point.
“We needed to start and to play like we did in the last 10 or 15 minutes, with that mentality.”
