A regular first choice now, the 22-year-old said: “I am loving it. “Everyone has made it easy for me to come in here, enjoy it, and just showcase what I can do. “There has been no pressure put on me from the lads. I can just do what I do. I have settled in well.

“It's been brilliant so far and I just want to keep it going.

“The month I picked up the Player of the Month award was good but I think all of us were good. I can't take the reward without mentioning the other lads as they were all outstanding and I couldn't have done it without them.

“They are all giving me advice and helping me. I couldn't ask any more of them. The support they give and the encouragement, they have been brilliant.”

Apart from his solid defending, Harbottle has also popped up with vital goals and his only bad game saw him make errors that cost two goals in the 2-2 home draw with Hartlepool. Having put that quickly behind him underlines his growing maturity.

“It is part of football,” he said. “The gaffer said after you will make mistakes but it's about learning from them.

“To go from scoring a goal and being a matchwinner to getting your head around making a mistake and costing the team two points is hard.

“But the lads were awesome and got my confidence back straight away.

“It does affect players. We're all human at the end of the day.

“It's about bouncing back and seeing the character of the person in reacting to it and forgetting about it, but also making sure it doesn't happen again.”

Harbottle's Premier League parent club are keeping close tabs on his progress.

“I speak to Forest every couple of weeks, the U23s managers and the first team manager will contact me, and the academy manager will come to the games,” he said.

“A few of the Forest lads and staff are coming down and seeing what we're doing and they are speaking really highly of it.

“They think a lot of the club to send me and Swanny (fellow Reds loanee Will Swan) both here - it speaks for itself really.

“I have played with Will since I was about nine or 10 years old, so we have a good friendship.

“I also knew the likes of Perchy (James Perch) before I came in - and a few others. So they all made it easy for me. Without them it could have been a lot harder to settle in and do what I am doing on the pitch.”

Harbottle previously spent time out on loan at Wealdstone and said: “My spell in non-league football was good and gave me the platform to improve my development. So this was the next step I needed – the league above.

“I always expected League Two to be tough, the physical side of it and not knowing a lot about the players you're coming up against at the weekend.

“There are different types of strikers, the bigger ones, a few younger lads who are on loan that I have played against in academy football, it's a different challenge to what I am used to.

“It's just learning the best way to deal with every striker you play against."

He added: “It's good to have a settled back line, but with the squad we have we know anyone can go in there and play any position.

“You look at Hawks (Oli Hawkins) for example. He is not normally a defender but he has come in and been brilliant so far. He is a big aerial threat and dominates the aerial duels.

“Ell (Elliott Hewitt) has been outstanding and in the last few, apart from the Hartlepool game, I think I have done really well myself, bearing in mind I have never played on the left side of a back three before I came here.

“It is something I have got to get used to and keep learning.

“But I am enjoying it and I am pleased the gaffer has put faith in me to play on that side. It is good for my portfolio, though I do see myself as a right-sided centre half.

“I think me and Ell give the pace on the outside of Hawks and we like to get on the ball and play a bit more. We are all confident to play anywhere in the team. The gaffer likes good footballers.”

Harbottle is keeping an eye on Forest's tough start to life in the to flight.

“The Premier League this year is the hardest it's been, so it was always going to be hard for any team in it this year,” he said.

“But I fully believe with the manager and players there they will come through. It's a good group of lads and they will be fine.

“It is going to be hard with all those new players coming in but we didn't have the squad. But my focus this year is on Mansfield and getting Mansfield promoted.”

Nottingham Forest defender Riley Harbottle is loving life on loan at Mansfield Town