Barnsley showed their effort to Ferran Siliba, but quality was lacking in 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest

Forest manager Steve Cooper was unhappy with his team's performance, yet they strolled to a 3-0 win despite missing a host of chances including a sitter for Xande Silva, who also shot against the post.

Siliba, who was deputising for the ill Poya Asbaghi, said the statistics showed there was enough effort from the bottom-of-the-table Reds - who had a fair chunk of the play at the start of the second half without making anything of it.

But as soon as they went behind after an uncharacteristic error, it felt like everyone in the City Ground knew what the outcome would be.

"We knew before coming here it would be a tough game with a lot of players playing out of position but still we had the belief and a plan to go into the game competing 100 per cent," he said.

"For the first 16 minutes before they scored the first goal we showed the belief was there. Twice we won the ball really high up, we had a good situation for a counter-attack but didn't find the player, we were playing short and long.

"We knew it would be really difficult but still we were competing in a good way.

"Mads is a fantastic player I admire for everything he does in every game and every training session but he had a situation that gave a goal to them and that changed the game.

"We were playing but they scored a goal and the belkief went for the rest of the first half.

"At half-time we could address some things and the team fought again but we weren't good enough to make it 2-1.

"From here we are not happy with the performance so we checked the running stats but every play had good stats so the commitment and effort of every players was there. But we haven't been good enough to perform.

"But we will keep fighting until the end."

Danish centre-back Andersen has taken the captain's armband in the absence of the injured Cauley Woodrow but Keinan Davis robbed him of possession to open the scoring. Ryan Yates doubled the lead before half-time and the only real threat at the other end in the opening 45 minutes was a Callum Styles shot cleared off the line.

Siliba was not critical of Andersen.

"This normally happens to teams in the situation we are," he said. "For sure it's not about concentration because I admire his effort, his concentration and his professionalism as our captain.

"Sometimes football is football. Mads tries to be a perfect footballer. perhaps he tried something and changed his mind at the last second. It can happen to any football player in the world.

Barnsley were missing a host of players including Carlton Morris, who has Covid-19. Asbaghi has tested negatively for it consistently for three days.

"I guess he's disappointed more than sick now but I'm sure he is working and trying to find solutions because he never stops working," said his Spanish assistant Siliba.

"He's negative for Covid but he's coughing a lot.

"Everything we've done (for this game) we've done together. We are a team and we have worked as a team tonight.

"Jo (Laumann) was on the phone to him. Before the game we prepared the line-up and the gameplan together.

"Tomorrow we will be working again. We will never stop. We are committed to the club 100 per cent.

"We will prepare as well as possible and when there are points to play for, we will always fight for them."

The most damning criticism of Barnsley was Cooper's assessment of his own team, complaining "there were really big gaps to play through" but his side lowered their standards.

"The performance in the second half wasn't what we want to be," he said.

"It was such a high for everybody on Saturday and to get back up in such a short space of time is sometimes very hard to do.

"I don't think large parts of the performance matches the result."