Former Nottingham Forest European Cup winner Garry Birtles has praised Joe Worrall for the way he has stepped up in recent weeks.

The academy graduate has been a regular this season, with his initial partnership alongside Michael Dawson a particularly strong one.

However, the ex-England international has been injured for the past six weeks, with Chema and Tobias Figueiredo coming in to play with Worrall in that spell.

And, Birtles has praised the 22-year-old for how he has coped with that, with Worrall starring in the weekend victory over rivals Derby County.

"I think you’ve got to give Worrall praise on his own. We’ve seen his individual quality while Michael has been out injured. It would have been easy for him to drop off a bit without Dawson alongside him, but instead he’s really stepped up to the plate.

"He’s played a big part over the last few weeks," he told Nottinghamshire Live.

The victory against the Rams has left Sabri Lamouchi's men in the top six and they can go to within two points of leaders West Brom if they win their game in hand.

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The verdict

You have to say that Birtles is spot on here, as Worrall has been outstanding this season and is an important member of the team right now.

As well as that, he seems to have stepped up as a leader in Dawson's absence and relished that responsibility of marshalling the defence on Saturday in particular.

Dawson probably deserves credit for that too, as Worrall has clearly learnt a lot from him in the past few months.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.