Steve Cooper: Nottingham Forest's City Ground atmosphere showed connection between players and fans

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper says the atmosphere created at the City Ground for Monday's FA Cup win over Huddersfield Town showed the connection which has been built with the fans.

Having already knocked out Arsenal and Leicester on special evenings by the River Trent, Forest won 2-1 to book a quarter-final visit from Liverpool.

The crowd of 27,417 helped Forest into a first last-eight tie since 1996.

"You could feel the atmosphere," Cooper told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"We're getting used to this. Not a soul leaving until the final whistle, and we just want to be a team they can be proud of.

"I talk every week about how the connection has to be as strong as possible and it is, we've shown how powerful we can be."

Since Cooper's arrival in September, Forest have clambered off the foot of the Championship table to put themselves in the play-off mix and now progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

For older Forest fans, the visit of Liverpool brings back the nostalgia of past rivalries, when the two clubs were engaged in the pursuit of trophies.

Forest's first major trophy since 1959 came when they beat Liverpool in the 1978 League Cup

From Forest's 1978 League Cup final win, mired in controversy over a penalty for a tackle on John O'Hare which John Robertson slotted away to win it, to Brian Clough's side beating then European champions Liverpool in the European Cup first round en-route to their own back-to-back success, and later losing consecutive FA Cup semi-finals against Kenny Dalglish's Reds in the late 1980s, there have been many moments between the two sides to recall.

The younger generation, starved of top-flight football on Trentside, will get their first taste of the unique atmosphere stirred when the two meet on Sunday, 20 March.

For Cooper though, nothing is more important than the next game, meaning cup fever will have to wait.

"It will be special, but we've got Reading next," he added. "When I leave the stadium that's all my mind will be on, being ready to play well again.

"When it comes round we'll enjoy it, and do our best to be ready for it, but there are a couple of really important games to play before.

"The groundsman's got a lot of work to do with the home games, but when the stadium is like this it's an amazing place."