Nottingham Forest fans were already excited for the return of Brennan Johnson, but that sense of anticipation was only heightened last night.
Johnson got the second goal in Lincoln City's 2-0 win over Sunderland in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final, as his hard work was rewarded for chasing down a back pass and he charged down goalkeeper Lee Burge's clearance and tapped into an empty net.
“I said to you [the media] in the week, we had to have the mindset of winning both games,” said Appleton after the win.
“If you do that, you give yourself the chance of getting through. We’ve got a very good away record, the best in the league. Hopefully that will continue on Saturday.
"We’ll go there and try and win the game.
“If we go there and try and get a draw, we’ll end up doing what we did for 20 minutes after we took the lead, defending on the edge of our box and allowing them to put balls in the box.
“That definitely won’t be the mindset. We’ll try and be a bit more possession based, like we were in the first half, and try to win the game.”
Johnson, 19, got his 13th goal of the season of a fantastic season on loan as he moved in from the wing to play as a number 10.
After he scored, Forest fans gave their reaction on Twitter as they urged the club to build around Johnson and not cash in on the Wales international.
Andrew Paluszkiewicz: Literally no new summer signing could make me more excited for next season than Brennan Johnson. And unfortunately, I feel like we won't actually see him in a forest shirt.
Martin Day: I don’t care who leaves this summer but what must happen is to build a team around Johnson, Mighten and Worrall.
Sam Crawford: I am seriously excited to see what Brennan Johnson can do in a Forest shirt next season.
Still think we need to be prioritising signing a striker with a proven track record of bagging goals in the champ, not going to come cheap but, for me, that's vital.
Kev Clifford: Can't wait to see Brennan Johnson back in Garibaldi red next season, this loan has done wonders for his development.
Tom Leighton: Got to start for us next season and be given 10 games starting in his position. Not 1-4 games and then give up on him like we’ve seen so many times...
Trevor Smith: Brennan Johnson is a very exciting prospect isn’t he? Can’t wait to see him back at the world famous City Ground next seasom
@Kirkyboy79: Brennan johnson already under massive pressure to perform when he comes back to many #nffc resting there hopes on him, we gotta be very patient and get behind him, not get on his back if he has a few quiet games!
