BRITT Assombalonga believes Nottingham Forest's simple will to win – and ability to secure three points without being at their best – will have the rest of the Championship running scared.
The striker believes the Reds are still to produce their best form this season, despite an unbeaten start that has seen them charge to the top of the Championship table.
Stuart Pearce's side needed a hat-trick from Assombalonga to help them to a 5-3 win over Fulham.
The 21-year-old admits Forest were not at their best – but was again encouraged by their fierce will to win.
"When we went 3-2 down, as we had shown against Sheffield Wednesday and Bournemouth, we showed that we had the real character you need to come back and still get the win," said Assombalonga.
"You can never write us off, because we will always come back fighting. That is good for us, because it scares other sides.
"Teams will come to us knowing that they have to play to their best for the whole 90 minutes if they want to get a result, not just for 70 minutes.
"That is the big thing for us that, even when we are not at our best, we can still win games. Obviously we do not want to keep playing badly and winning games, we want to produce our best. We will take wins however they come, but the gaffer wants us to start showing our best at the same time and he is right.
"In a way, teams are going to be scared of us, because we are still to produce our best, yet we are still winning matches."
Forest will hope to produce their best form at the New Den tomorrow, against a Millwall side who had been on the fringes of the play-off places, until defeats at Ipswich and Reading.
"The gaffer is good. He is right, he wants us to do better. He does not want us to concede goals, but he is very happy that we have scored five goals," added Assombalonga.
"He is happy, because we are top of the table still and unbeaten still. But we do want to produce the performance that we are capable of.
"We have the belief in the changing room, we feel as though we will never go down; never be beaten. The only way is up, we want to get into the Premier League and, if we can keep going the way we are going then we have a chance of that."
Assombalonga's hat-trick took his tally for the season to eight goals in seven league games – prompting many to believe he could be the club's first 20-goal a season striker since David Johnson more than a decade ago.
"I never set myself targets, but having eight goals already is a good feeling, I must admit. I hope it can continue," said Assombalonga. "Can I become a 20-goal a season striker? We will have to see at the end of the season, won't we?
"My confidence is high, because all you want to do is score goals and, when you do that, it does give you a confidence boost. It is the start I wanted. When it comes to the price tag, once you have scored a few goals, you forget about that. I am a player for Forest and that is it now."
