Nottingham Forest full-back Sam Byram has expressed his joy at getting back out on the field on Tuesday night, despite the 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

It was the West Ham United loanee's first appearance since August but insists that he cares more about the Reds defeat to the Owls.

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"It has been about seven months but I feel fit and good to be back," he told the club's official website.

"When I did the injury and had my surgery, there would have been a few people who wouldn't have expected me to be back.

"But I set myself a target and gave myself something to fight towards and it is nice to come back and play again.

"There are parts in the game when I thought we were on top, playing good football and then we concede a second. We need to be better mentally and not give away easy goals."

Martin O'Neill rung the changes in the Reds line-up with Byram joining the likes of Arvin Appiah and Luke Steele in being granted rare starts for the club.

But after an uneventful first half, it was Wednesday who flew out of the traps at the start of the second when George Boyd set-up Marco Matias to give the home side the lead in the 47th minute.

It was 2-0 just 11 minutes later when Lucas Joao's pass found its way to Boyd on the left-hand side of the box who then lashed a brilliant shot across Steele and into the net before Matias notched his second in the 68th minute to kill off the game.

The verdict

It is undoubtedly great to see Byram back out on the pitch.

He is a top talent and as a spectator you want the best players to be showing what they can do week-in week-out.

The next test for Byram will be to hold that place down ahead of what could be an interesting transfer window for him.