THE sheepish expression on Neil Danns’ face said it all deep into the evening at the City Ground.

Plucked as the spokesperson for a dressing room in shock after a desperate defeat, Danns still had the angry words of Neil Lennon ringing in his ears as he answered questions from the press.

“He wasn’t pleased, as you’d probably expect,” the Liverpudlian muttered, before reliving 107 minutes of football he’d rather have forgotten.

“The manager was gutted as we all were. We came here expecting to win and everything went the wrong way.

“The first goal was a mistake; the boy (Filip Twardzik) slipped and that cost us. With the second one, he (Michail Antonio) just ran through us. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

"Having scored we came in at half time thinking we could get back in this game. We were confident coming back out at half time we could get back in the match. But it was all downhill after the red card.”

While Danns believes Matt Mills was harshly treated by referee Carl Boyeson, who issued the defender two yellow cards for trips on Michail Antionio, he knows exactly what was going through his team-mate’s head as he walked back down the tunnel.

He had been sent off at a crucial stage of the Liverpool FA Cup replay for a needless foul, and watched on from the stands as his side were beaten late on.

“He is disappointed especially when it was a soft one like that,” Danns said. “We had a good chance at 11 v 11.

“He has got to pick himself up. He is the captain and has got to bounce back like I had to after the Liverpool game.”

The Liverpool cup games seem to have been a turning point for Lennon’s side, who but for a good win over Fulham have failed to shine at all since holding the Reds at Anfield.

Injuries have taken their toll, and consequently meant Lennon has been unable to keep a consistency in his team selection.

But the mental toll of the two cup games may also have had a lasting effect, Danns admitted.

“I would be lying if I said those matches didn't take anything out of us,” he added.

Lennon wasted no time labelling the performance the worst during his time at Wanderers.

The Northern Irishman was so annoyed he marched out of Forest’s press room rather than wait for Dougie Freedman to finish addressing the national media, sending assistant Johann Mjallby back in his place.

But speaking to The Bolton News, he gave a typically frank assessment.

“We started off sloppy, looked nervy on the ball, indecisive,” he said. “These are simple things.

“You all make mistakes and it was an individual mistake when Filip slipped but you have to react. There was time.

“We just started giving the ball away under no pressure at all.

“You can set the team up as tactically as you’d like – we lack a bit of physicality at the minute, we know that – and Heskey is only just coming back from injury, Davies, Trotter and Pratley are out, but you have to compete and we didn’t; we looked really lightweight.”