County boss Martin Allen spoke to BBC Radio Nottingham and his club's offical website after his side's 3-0 opening day win over Carlisle at Brunton Park, Allen understandably praising his players:
"God bless all these players that have come new to this club, the way they've trained, looked after themselves. And I didn't drive up to Carlisle the other week to have a holiday in the Lake District. It's a long old drive from Nottingham, I sat and watched it and found out a good way that I thought we could beat them if our players played to the maximum.
"I thought we had enough power to beat them, that proved to be the case with the formation we used. I changed the formation a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to have more penetration and God bless the players, they've been so receptive to absorb information.And then their will to win and desire - that was a good performance.
"And the overall performance pleased me the most, all the players that are on the field, all the players that are on the bench all playing their part, the staff all behind the scenes, a lot of staff never get credit. It has been a real team effort on and off the field, five and a half weeks of hard work to keep a clean sheet, score those goals, perhaps could have had a few more as well without any real threat from them is the credit all to the players.
"I think there were some records set last year when we won two away games on the spin and everyone said it had been such a long time since we won two away games. But, you can see all the players out on the pitch now as we talk, they are all warming down together and chatting. I don't think they are actually warming down, they are just talking to each other and having banter with each other. I have told them they have to go out and stand there and talk for ten minutes and chat with each other just to enjoy the feeling and enjoy the moment. Then now I have told them of course that we have got to get ready for Tuesday night.
"Jeff Hughes did alright today but I am not really going to pull out any players, as I have said from day one it is our squad that makes it count and the contribution from the people on the bench, those players can be pretty troublesome if they are not treated properly and focused on what are they doing. I have got some players at home as well who didn't even make this journey that are in the squad. But, Jeff did alright, we know he is going to get goals, he got eleven last year and the year before I think he got about nine, so his ratio is good of one in four and it was good for him."
"I thought Alan Sheehan's free-kick was going in anyway so it should really be Sheehan's goal to be fair, it was our player's goal I think. It was on its way in and the other geezer (Francois Zoko) deflected it into the top corner. So, it should really be Sheehan's goal I think and he is pretty good at that.
"It was just obvious to take Lee Hughes off, the crowd were getting on him, I didn't see the collision over the far side of the pitch but the fella (Andy Welsh) has been knocked over, the crowd weren't happy, we were winning, so it didn't take much thinking about to be honest. It was Craig Westcarr, get him on, Craig has been great in training this week even though he knew he wasn't playing, fair play to him, so Craig has come on and done the job and Lee Hughes respected it, happy with it and that is the sort of pro he is.
"What a goal it was as well from him, he anticipated the back-pass, slipped it in there with his left foot. He was cool, calm, calculated. He's a great person to have around the club because of his belief, his hunger, his confidence. People have questioned whether he was going to be here this season. It's a no-brainer. He was very lively and sharp, but I don't think he's going to be fit for Tuesday night. He's got a knock on his ankle, so somebody else will come in.
"We brought 20 players up here, including some young lads that have done well through pre-season and Cristian Montano joined us on the train from London on Friday afternoon. It's important I bring through these young players for the long term future of this football club and I'm very naffed off that the substitute thing has gone back to being only five. I will squeeze them in here and there and it will be vital for this club to develop these players to help bring this wage bill down.
"All the players are in tomorrow morning now at the swimming pool, there is some swimming baths in Nottingham that we have hired to take all the players to, the public ones, we don't go to all those flashy ones with jacuzzis and all that, we just go to where the public go and we swim, that is tomorrow morning. The lads that haven't quite played, some of them might have to train and then on Monday we train as normal and then Tuesday night we go over the bridge.
"But, today doesn't change anything for Tuesday really, I have been to see the opposition (Nottingham Forest) play, I know what we are going to be up against, they have signed some players who have been playing in the Premier League last year and a lot of our players were on the cusp of playing in League Two. We could be called free transfer United unlike Nottingham Forest that can pay all that money for all those wages. They have got a former England manager (Steve McClaren) and Notts County have got a dog, so let's put it all in perspective. We will go over there and try to enjoy the occasion, it would be a hell of a shock and a surprise if we did manage to get something out of this cup game."