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Aitor Karanka praised his new central defensive partnership of Danny Fox and Tobias Figueiredo – and revealed it was always the plan to pair the duo in the heart of the Nottingham Forest back-four at Burton.

And the Reds boss says the challenge for Fox – and the other players who will be out of contract in the summer – is to keep producing the performance levels that will earn the Reds points and, potentially, them a new deal.

Forest had to change their plans at the 11th hour, with Joe Worrall failing to recover from a knee injury and Michael Mancienne falling ill, prior to kick-off at the Pirelli.

But Mancienne had been preparing to play at right-back against Nigel Clough’s side, with Karanka planning to field on-loan Sporting Lisbon defender Figueiredo and Fox in the middle.

And the duo played an integral role in helping Forest to claw their way to a point, after playing for more than an hour with 10 men, following the dismissal of Eric Lichaj.

“We were working on this since Tuesday because I knew we had to change something,” said Karanka.

“And the defenders here would have been Mancienne at right-back, Tobias and Fox in the middle and Eric Lichaj.

“Mancienne could not play, but I am really pleased for Tendayi (Darikwa) because he did well. He is a player who does not always play, but he does always train well and I am pleased for him.

“I told Fox before the game that he had to remember he was playing in my position. I was joking with him before the game, telling him that I was going to be watching him.

(Image: Joseph Raynor)

“He produced an amazing game. He did not let me down, he made me proud.

“He is another player who can be important for us; he can have a big role to play in the team and in the changing room. He is experienced, he is a good character and he always wants to improve, even if he is not young.

“He is the kind of player I like.”

Karanka says he has spoken to Fox about his contract situation – but adds the priority for the club has to be to start winning football matches, before they start negotiating new deals with anyone.

Fox, David Vaughan, Chris Cohen, Jack Hobbs, Ashkan Dejagah and Juan Fuentes will all see their contracts expire at the end of the season.

“I have spoken to him (Fox) and the club (about this). But now we know that we just need to win games,” said Karanka. “That is the main thing. We want to create a good spirit in the team; to build their confidence.

(Image: Joseph Raynor)

“We did that today and he knows that I like him. He is happy here, but the main thing now is to win games and when we win those games, we will start speaking about the future.

“The players need to earn their position on the pitch every week. If they train well, if they play well, then their contracts will arrive.

“But what I like about Fox is that he understands the main thing now is to win games and to think about the team first, then his contract second.”

Karanka also felt that Figueiredo was worthy of praise, as the defender, 24, made an encouraging, solid debut.

“He knew since last Monday that he was going to play today and he has been training for the last three weeks or so,” said the Reds boss.

“He has been improving in every single session and today I think it was a perfect game for him, with long balls, high balls in the air and second balls to win.

“He has been really comfortable. He has shown that he is a really good central defender and I am sure he will help us a lot.

“It is not easy to play in this league and for him to play like he did, in his first game, was important.”