After seeing his side show their character to win the battle on the pitch, Stuart Pearce needed only a few words to win one of his own, off it.
Prior to kick-off, the Nottingham Forest manager had come under fire from a fellow former England defender, in Danny Mills, who had questioned his credentials as a manager.
It felt as if there was an undertone of bitterness from Mills, who found his chances limited under Pearce when he played under him at Manchester City, when he claimed on the BBC that he was 'not surprised' to see Forest struggling for form under his old boss.
"He comes in, everyone says 'wow, it's Stuart Pearce, legend! Psycho' and all of that and he has that instant respect," said Mills.
"He gets teams going but after a while, players aren't stupid, they're not naive and they start to suss him out. He doesn't have the depth of football ability to back it up.
"Actually, he is not a great coach, he's not a great tactician, he's not a great motivator and he struggles with big players who question his authority."
There seemed to be little awry with Forest's tactics or motivation as they claimed three points in a dramatic 2-1 win against Derby County at the iPro, before Pearce responded to Mills' criticism. If Mills' timing proved to be off, Pearce's was less so.
"I spoke with our press officer, who asked me if I wanted to know what Danny said, but I didn't want to. I know Danny very well, I worked with him at Manchester City," said Pearce.
"I put Micah Richards in the team ahead of him. And Nedum Onuoha. Danny gets paid to make observations about football and I will accept anything he has to say. I have no idea what he did say and I suspect it was not complimentary about me, as a manager.
"But it is neither here nor there. I can't worry about what every pundit says. My respect goes to people like Steve McClaren, Tony Pulis, Harry Redknapp – people who have spent hundreds and thousands of games in the technical area. They are the ones who get my respect in football."
Pearce's passionate celebrations following his side's goals and at the final whistle illustrated what a massive win this was for him, even if he was back in more subdued mood when it came to analysing the game afterwards.
"I have always been very levelheaded in everything, I would like to think. The team, with the results we have delivered recently, have brought pressure on us. I am more than happy to take any pressure that is thrown this way, if it shields the players a touch," said Pearce.
"I am delighted with the result, but also with the way the players went about their business and showed that will to win.
"Derby had started to get on top once we had equalised, but we thought we could hit them on the counter attack, that was in our game plan.
"To a man, they carried out their instructions and, credit to them, they deserve to be buoyant now. But, come Monday morning, we will get ready for another performance on Wednesday, at Fulham."
There was no questioning who was the hero of the hour, with Ben Osborn scoring a superb injury-time winner to secure the bragging rights for Forest fans until next season.
Osborn had put in a fine performance playing down the left side of midfield, but capped it off with an even better finish, beating Lee Grant at his near post following a driving run from the edge of the centre circle.
"Credit to the kid, because he showed great composure, to hit a great strike. His delivery has been brilliant from set plays. Every set play looked as though we had a chance to score. Their keeper looked very uncomfortable coming for the ball. I think everyone, to a man, performed as a collective," said Pearce.
"We are delighted for Ben, getting the winner. We had played him in the centre of midfield for much of this season, but we felt he could operate well for us on the left side. He did that well last week and he delivered a great team performance, working up and down the flank.
"And credit to him for the goal, to go and unload a finish like he did at the end – we were delighted for him."
Forest's equalising goal, to cancel out an unlucky own goal from Henri Lansbury had been provided by Britt Assombalonga, who turned neatly and fired home after an Osborn set piece delivery had been prodded in his direction by Jack Hobbs.
The £5.5m striker had been struggling with a hip injury all week, since collecting a knock against Sheffield Wednesday. But Pearce felt it was never in doubt that the former Peterborough man would want to play his part.
"I don't think it was a consideration for him (not playing)," said Pearce. "He did not want to come off last week, after he had taken what was a painful blow on the hip for him.
"The one thing; the one commodity we have signed with Britt, is a real team player. He has the team as his focus, before himself. For any forward, that is quite a commodity to have."
And while one ex-player may be aiming a few critical words at Pearce, Assombalonga, after the game, also insisted that all the current players were right behind the manager; that he had their full support. That, you sense, may be viewed as more significant by the Forest boss.
