Joe Worrall put in the kind of performance against Charlton which suggests the Nottingham Forest defender is coming of age.

In fairness, such as a showing has been coming.

Since returning from a loan spell at Rangers, the 22-year-old has looked an improved player.

Which was the whole point of a stint at Ibrox.

A few lapses in concentration could be seen in pre-season.

All too familiar issues appeared to be creeping into his game once more.

Competitive action has, however, a delivered newly fully-focused Worrall.

Across four Championship outings so far, what has he done wrong?

Not an awful lot.

Promising

Original Images: Nottingham Forest/Graphic Design: Beth Davenport

He is in the process of forging a promising partnership with Michael Dawson.

Two home-grown stars at the heart of the Forest side.

You love to see it!

Not too many had Dawson and Worrall down as their favoured duo over the summer, with Alexander Milosevic and Tobias Figueiredo drawing more support.

Any doubts have been answered in style.

With there always the promise for such a situation to arise.

Dawson, who learned from Reds legend Des Walker when becoming a regular in the side, is now filling the role of master to the apprentice.

Worrall should be taking as many lessons as possible from the man alongside him.

Words of wisdom appear to be getting through.

Impressive

A Nottingham native put in arguably his most impressive performance for the Reds against Charlton on Wednesday.

Sabri Lamouchi’s side only left The Valley with a 1-1 draw, but things could have been much worse.

Dawson and Worrall ensured it wasn’t.

The former put in a timely block early on and led by example with the captain’s armband in place.

Worrall was hauled along with him and looked assured throughout.

He barely put a foot out of place.

If a challenge needed to be made, he made it.

When the ball was there to be won, he went and got it.

Before then moving it on calmly and effectively.

Progress

Worrall posted on Twitter afterwards: “Not the best, however resilient again to snatch a point away from home; not a bad trait to have.”

Forest have collected 1-1 draws from their two trips out on the road so far.

Away form remains a concern, with one win now taken from the last 16 second tier games outside of the City Ground.

Showings at Elland Road and The Valley have, however, seen something taken from games in which Forest deserved little.

Worrall has contributed significantly to those efforts.

Leeds, for all of their possession, had few sights of goal while Charlton were unable to make the most of their first-half dominance.

Two goals against West Brom were the result of goalkeeping mistakes, while a clean sheet was earned at home to Birmingham.

Forest remain a work in progress but are can take positives from their centre-half pairing.

Worrall is starting to look like the player we all hoped he would become, and long may that upward curve continue.

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