“Very fast.” Oliver Glasner smiled when asked how he had felt, charging down the touchline towards a mass of celebrating Nottingham Forest players on Saturday night.

His side had just extended their lead over Manchester City courtesy of a second Liam Delap thunderbolt, all but sealing their first home win of the season and lifting them out of the bottom three.

Just a week earlier, he had questioned their performance and commitment – telling his players to “buy in” or “leave”.

More seriously, he added: “There was happiness, strong relief.” Behind the scenes, the feeling was the same. One Forest figure said the win was a huge relief.

It was tempting to call it fate. For once, the mist really did roll in from the Trent. The City Ground was back to its raucous best.

Even those present for Remembrance commemorations left the pitch before kick-off singing “Mull of Kintyre”. There was magic in the air – and in Forest striker Delap’s boots.

But this wasn’t fate. It was something Glasner had been demanding for weeks.

From the first whistle, Forest played with almost-desperate intent – and in just the sixth minute Brazil international defender Jair Cunha pressed high to rob the ball from Josko Gvardiol, somehow staying on his feet before delivering a composed finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City goal.

City seemed shellshocked. Head coach Enzo Maresca later admitted his side had failed to win duels and had not matched Forest’s intensity.

Twelve minutes later, Xaver Schlager picked the pocket of Elliot Anderson – sold by Forest to City for a reported £116m in the summer – and released Delap, who powered towards goal and unleashed a stunning finish.

After Forest’s loss to Brentford on Halloween, then their fourth in five games, Glasner demanded more from his players. During the week, he said 12 of the 17 teams who won their Champions League ties had outrun their opponents.

“I would like to be one of the 12, because then the chance of winning is higher,” Glasner added. It wasn’t a new gripe.

On arriving at the club he said his new side had been 20th in the table for sprints, 19th for high-intensity runs and 17th for overall distance run the previous season. In response, he has them training “40 per cent more”.

Forest have outrun their opponents four times in the league this season and not lost any of those games.

In all five of their defeats they were the side that covered less ground. They also had more expected goals (xG) than their opponents in seven of 10 games, but only won one of them. The chances have been there, but Glasner’s view is that the running decides whether they turn into results.

Forest covered 6.6km more ground than City on Saturday.

For Maresca’s men, the result meant three Premier League defeats in a row after seven top-flight victories to start the Italian’s reign. He insisted his side had been “much, much better” in all three defeats. It is a line Glasner has used all season.

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Before Delap scored Forest’s third, the visitors piled on the pressure. But stout defending and the moments of fortune the Reds have often missed this season protected their lead.

Glasner revealed club captain Ryan Yates, a Forest fixture of more than 20 years, had given the most inspiring speech he had ever heard after more than 1,000 games as a player and manager. But, as the Austrian, said: “One swallow does not make a summer.”

Forest face an away trip to in-form Bournemouth and a visit from Chelsea after the break. Their fate, it turns out, is in their hands. But if Glasner’s side are to move up the table, it will be their legs that carry them.