15/11/2008 - Pemberton: Forest loan duo's attitude superb
John Pemberton today paid tribute to the dedication of two of Forest's loan players, after they asked to be allowed to play in the reserves this week.Lee Martin and Joel Lynch both requested the chance to face Sheffield United, with Martin having only made a cameo appearance as a substitute against Birmingham on Saturday and Lynch having missed out through illness.
In the end, Lynch was again sidelined on Wednesday, having fallen ill immediately prior to kick-off ahead of the 0-0 draw at the City Ground.
But Martin, on loan from Manchester United, put in a hard-working performance and came close to scoring with a first-half free-kick.
"Joel Lynch and Lee Martin both asked to play the game," said reserve team manager Pemberton.
"In the Championship, we are in the position we are because we have not made a good start to the season, but players are coming back now and those two are fighting to get back into the side themselves.
"It is unfortunate for Joel that he had to miss out, but I am sure Lee will be part of the squad on Saturday."
It was a tough test for Pemberton's young side against the Blades, who named a side that could feasibly hold its own at Championship level, with the likes of Lee Hendrie, Gary Naysmith, Nick Montgomery and David Cotterill all starting.
But Pemberton says that is the kind of challenge Forest want to put their young players through as they look to prepare themselves for Championship football in the future.
"This is the kind of test our boys want to have, though," he said.
"We were unlucky in the sense that Joel Lynch was sick literally straight before kick-off, so we had to change things at the last minute.
"But we want to play experienced sides. We played Leeds in a friendly last week and did really well - we need that kind of test.
"We need to test ourselves against players who have played a lot of games at Championship level."