O'Driscoll: Happy with Forest

After seeing a 57th-minute Dexter Blackstock header separate the sides at Highbury on Monday night, O'Driscoll had cause for optimism ahead of the forthcoming Championship season.

He said: "Many people would have looked at this tie and looked at it as one of those games that could produce a shock.

"But we always looked solid and showed some versatility and that was pleasing. They put us under a bit of pressure in the first half but we changed things round a bit after the break and that seemed to help us.

"We got the goal and had a couple of half chances but to give them great credit they kept battling and we couldn't get the second goal we needed to kill them off. The result went to us but the plaudits go Fleetwood because they were excellent."

Blackstock earned his side a passage into the second round with the only goal of the game 12 minutes after the interval.

The experienced Andy Reid produced a superb delivery from the left, which was met by the unmarked striker at the far post.

Despite the defeat, Fleetwood manager Micky Mellon was proud of his players in their first ever Football League game.

He said: "A neutral watching the game would not have really known who was the Championship side on that performance and that is the biggest praise I can give my players.

"We were excellent in the first half and I thought we were the better side without really creating any clear chances. They came into a bit more in the second half and we will have to learn from that as we began to give the ball away too cheaply which they took advantage of.

"We had six players making their debuts for us but I thought they all settled in really well and we can take great heart from the performance."