Nottingham Forest Women head coach Tom Mallinson has insisted that his side's early-season frustrations can drive the team forward as they prepare to host Burnley.

Forest welcome the Clarets to the City Ground on Sunday afternoon, as they look to finish on a high before the international break.

The Reds came from behind to rescue a late draw away to Southampton last weekend, following another comeback, this time to win, the previous weekend, with a Subway Players Cup defeat sandwiched in between.

In light of recent comeback performances, Mallinson has insisted that his side need to improve at the start of games, and begin strong.

“I’ve said before, we have to start quickly, we have to start bright, and we have to be exciting," the head coach insisted.

"If we do those things, we have to always be aware of threats that Burnley may have, but at the same time, we’ve got to really impose ourselves on this game from the first minute.”

Mallinson has previously discussed frustrations following the Reds' draw last weekend, but insisted that his side can use that to drive them forward.

"We had a good meeting yesterday, just around that element of frustration, because they felt it, and we [the coaching team] certainly feel it as well.

“We talked about where we think we should be and where we currently are, and how we then get that right for this weekend.

“We air that frustration out, the frustration that’s going to drive us, not the frustration that’s going to make us implode.

“It’s just going to drive us and make us go, ‘Actually, we are so close to doing what we want to try and achieve’; we’ve just got to then try and get those moments right at the weekend against Burnley.

“The way they’ve trained for the past two days, they’ve been outstanding, they really have.”

Katie Cox made her Forest debut against Southampton after returning from her involvement with the young Lionesses at the U20 Women's World Cup.

The 20-year-old on-loan goalkeeper made a strong first impression, and has earned the plaudits of her head coach since her arrival.

Mallinson extended his praise to the entire goalkeeping department, who he insisted are working excellently together.

“Katie came in at the weekend and did great,” he said. “She claimed a couple of really important crosses from set pieces.

“So she’s been really good in terms of how she’s come in, she’s communicated well, but also between the goalkeepers, they’ve all been pushing themselves.

“With G [Georgie Ferguson], with Batts [Emily Batty] and with Katie [Cox], we’ve got three goalkeepers that are consistently trying to push each other, and the more that we can push them, they can push each other - and the same for the outfielders, there’s a massive competition for places, and that’s a great place for us to be in.”

Burnley are winless so far this season, offering a real opportunity for Forest to enter the break on a high.

Despite admitting that the Clarets have been unfortunate at times so far this season, Mallinson insisted he is more concerned about what his Forest team can do, rather than any potential threat from Burnley.

“I think they’ve been unfortunate in some of the results that they’ve had,” Mallinson admitted.

“They’ve been really close to getting over the line to getting wins, and they’ve had a couple of draws in there as well.

“So they’ll be a team that wants to try and get a win before the break, but they’ll be up against a Nottingham Forest team that wants the exact same thing. 

“I don’t worry too much about what they’re gonna do, and that’s not being disrespectful about them, it’s just going, ‘If we focus on what we can control, we need to really make sure we put ourselves in the best position early in the game and get that control’."