The England international said that Rob Edwards’ substitutes made a difference as Town came from two goals down to claim a Premier League point at the City Ground.

“In the first half I didn’t think we were at our best,” said Barkley. “We needed to put the pressure higher up the pitch and make things happen.

“Forest are a good side who were in the Premier League last year and been through the experience of it, but we showed character, we kept pushing until the end and credit to the lads on the bench because they came on and made a difference.

“We need that otherwise the Premier League will be difficult league to play in, and we showed that we can do what the manager asked of us.

“Over the last month or so I’ve seen how important this club is through the fans, the staff, the players that have experienced the club for a long time, the difficulties of coming from the Conference all the way up.

“The character of the squad is great to be apart of and in the Premier League we’ve been through a learning curve where the lads know how difficult it is, I’ve experienced that before. I’m seeing changes every week, the quality levels, the lads pushing themselves and the confidence all improving.

“The lads will communicate with me and ask me questions, I try and set standards in training, so the lads know it’s difficult and you need to be one hundred percent every day of the week because if you take your foot off the gas then you’ll concede goals.

“We’ve conceded silly goals that we can iron out, which we have been doing. We just need to get better at that and I’m sure we will.”