Double European cup winner Garry Birtles believes that winger Alex Mighten could play a pivotal role for Nottingham Forest as they look to gain promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs.
The east Midlanders are the favourites for promotion after a tremendous turnaround under Steve Cooper and will take on Sheffield United in the semi-finals with the first leg at Bramall Lane on Saturday (3 pm) before the return game at the City Ground on Tuesday night (7.45 pm).
The excitement is soaring as Forest look to return to the Premier League for the first time since 1999 and former centre-forward Birtles has singled out Mighten for praise ahead of the crunch clash this weekend and believes he has the potential to be an impactful introduction from the bench.
Speaking on the Garibaldi Red podcast he said:
(14:21) “Because he has that ability just to be able to maybe go away half a yard quicker than somebody else and you know, late in games, you know that can turn a game on its head. And yeah, he would be the top of my pecking order to come on.”
TIF Thoughts on Mighten and Forest…
With Cooper finding the right formula in his 3-4-1-2 line-out it has limited the room for out-and-out winger Mighten in the side.
The Englishman played the full game for the first time in the Championship since September in the 1-1 draw with Hull on the final day and has found minutes hard to come by this season.
The 20-year-old played as a striker as Cooper tries to fit the academy product, who scored three goals and provided one assist in his first full season last term, into the team and he clearly has the backing of Birtles to have a say.
Prior to the final day, Mighten played just over a half an hour of the previous 15 fixtures and was an unused substitute in 11 of those games but he could have a part to play albeit he did post a below-par 6.6 match rating, according to SofaScore, in his most recent start.