Nottingham Forest Under-21s manager Dave Rogers has praised Ateef Konate after he scored the winner against Derby County.
The Reds beat the Rams 1-0 at Pride Park last night, with the Frenchman scoring the winner.
Forest claimed local bragging rights at the home of the Rams and Derby just can’t catch a break.
As if it wasn’t bad enough being two divisions lower than Forest, they lost to their fierce rivals twice in the space of a week.
Last week, the Under-18s beat Derby 2-0 and the Rams must be sick of the sight of the Reds.
Konate has been a big player for the under-21s in recent years and he looks set for a bright future.
Last season, he impressed Steve Cooper to the point where he rewarded him with a senior debut.
Konate came on during a 3-0 win over Barnsley during the 2021/22 campaign and it was a proud moment for the player.
The former Le Havre youngster signed for the Reds in 2020 and the coaching staff are pleased with his progress.
Last season, he finished with seven goals and seven assists from 27 appearances and he has all the attributes to make the step up.
Konate praised by Rogers after winning goal
Rogers has taken over the Under-21 ranks from Andy Reid who has now been given a job with the first team.
The team are slowly starting to settle down after a tough start to the season.
After opening the campaign with four straight defeats, the young Reds have now won two games 1-0 in succession.
That gives the team a platform to work from and they can start to look up now.
After last night’s game, he tweeted Konate’s goal and said: “Calmness personified.”
For the Frenchman, the challenge seems pretty clear for the rest of this season.
He just needs to keep his head down, continue learning and do his level best in every game.
If he does that, he might catch Cooper’s eye once again before the season is out.