Nottingham Forest captain Ian Breckin admits he is relishing his role as one of the club's elder statesmen.

Breckin, who celebrates his 33rd birthday today, was the only Forest player older than 22 to appear in yesterday's friendly at AFC Telford United.

"I feel the lads look up to me and I respect that," said Breckin.

"It's hard when you're a young player trying to make it in the game and I want to help them as much as I can."

And the centre-half added: "I am in good shape at the moment and I just want to play as long as I can".

Breckin was pleased with the performance against Telford as The Reds ran out 4-1 winners, saying: "It's just about getting match practice, but it was a good workout".

"All the lads did well. It was a young team and the lads are progressing well.

"I was impressed with the way we passed the ball, we never gave them a chance, though we should be beating teams like this and we did. Everton will be a different challenge."

Forest boss Colin Calderwood was pleased with the victory - but refused to get carried away.

He said he was impressed with the players' workrate and the way they used the ball.

"It was good exercise, we passed the ball well and competed in the right way," he said.

The win was Forest's second in two days over non-league opposition, having beaten Conference side Burton Albion 3-1 the previous night.

"I think you could tell the difference between part-time and full-time training," said Calderwood.