Morgan says Imps move will help his Forest dream

David Morgan insisted he needed to leave Nottingham Forest to challenge himself and prove he is capable of fulfilling his Championship dream.

The tough tackling midfielder was outstanding in Lincoln's 1-0 defeat at Tamworth at the weekend, clinching the man of the match award on his first start for the club.

Morgan is hoping to gatecrash Sean O'Driscoll's first team after catching the eye with several fine performances for Forest's under-21s.

But he said the time had come for him to compete alongside "men" and hopes his spell at Lincoln will make the Forest boss take notice.

"Everyone wants to play for their parent club," he said.

"But the only way you can do that is by going out and learning your trade elsewhere.

"If it's not this season that I break in to the Forest first team, then hopefully it will be next year.

"I have been playing regularly for Forest's under-21s, but I wanted to challenge myself.

"I wanted men's football, so I went to see the Forest manager to ask if I could go out on loan and here I am.

"It's what I needed and it's certainly very physical.

"You are playing with men. It's a bit route one and not much football is played, but you have to start somewhere."

Morgan is now set for an extended run in the team after Gary Mills was suspended for three games following his red card at Tamworth.

His absence should give the Northern Ireland under-21 international the chance to play in the centre of midfield rather than the right wing slot he was originally handed last week.

But the gritty midfielder said he is happy to do a job for the team, wherever that may be.

"I thought I did all right in my first game," he said.

"Preferably I like to play in the centre of midfield.

"I am not really a wide player, but when the gaffer named the line-up, I was just happy to do a job for the team.

"But ideally I see myself as a box-to-box midfielder, although if needs be I can just hold in front of the back four."

Morgan will be a key figure for Lincoln on Friday night when they travel to Forest Green Rovers hoping to derail their impressive start to the season.

Thanks to a considerable amount of investment over the summer, Rovers have been catapulted into the promotion race.

And Morgan says Lincoln can ill-afford a repeat of the starts which saw them concede early against both Tamworth and Nuneaton.

"We have to start better than that," he said.

"It was stressed in the dressing room that we had to start bright.

"But as soon as we came out we suffered a setback.

"We are then chasing the game.

"At Tamworth, although we looked likely to score, for all of the huffing and puffing, we just never bagged the goal we needed.

"If we had got the one, then I think we would have gone on and won it.

"We just cannot afford to start like that again anywhere."

Friday's game is being televised by Premier Sports with the Imps' trip to Southport in December also scheduled for the roster.

The channel costs £9.99 per month or alternatively you can opt for a 12-month season ticket saving you nearly £30.