Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal of the game with 20 minutes left – the decisive moment in the Saints’ first competitive home game since their triumphant Championship play-off semi-final second leg against West Brom.

Martin was unhappy with his team’s start to the game and the manner of the winner, which came after the Saints failed to clear a Forest corner.

“I was unhappy with the performance in the first half, but I understand that,” said the manager. “I know what it’s like – the eagerness to really show what you can do in the first game after returning, a certain tension.”

“We didn’t start the game well and then we tried to make up for that by putting a lot of pressure on the ball and trying to impose ourselves in the game. That’s a really good attitude but we didn’t do enough to make them work or open up gaps.

“We lost the ball a lot – far too often for us. They are a big threat in transition and have real quality at the top of the pitch. Even in the Premier League they really have top quality.

“In the second half, from minute 45 to minute 70, we were good. We were so superior, we had everything under control, we often had the ball in their final third, but in terms of chances, we need to make more of them.”

“It’s about mentality and quality and really believing that you can do it. That wasn’t quite enough and that’s probably down to the aftermath of Newcastle and the frustration that we should have scored two or three goals.”

“There has to be more of it, but the game looked much more like what it should have done, and much more like us. But then we conceded a really bad goal in the second phase of a set piece, which annoys me a lot, because the game shouldn’t have been decided by that.”

Martin was encouraged by his players’ willingness to keep working and push for a last-minute equaliser, but felt they needed to put more players in the box.

“Now it’s just about the next step – the next level of intensity and mentality,” he added. “They fight hard, they run hard. You can see that in the recovery runs in the 93rd minute when they had a counterattack after a set piece.”

“They are giving us everything, we just need a bit more in the final third and I’m sure we’ll get that. We don’t have Forest’s quality or the power at the top end of the pitch so we have to do things differently.

“When Charlie Taylor crosses at the end and the ball goes over the goal and Sam Edozie crosses, we need people to literally give everything to score the goal. We have too many players watching the ball, so we have to go out and make it happen.”