Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton was frustrated that his side’s dominance didn’t produce all three points as The Reds drew with Stoke City.
Forest controlled the ball for the majority of the game but had to come behind to secure a point as Lewis Grabban’s second-half leveller cancelled our Rabbi Matondo’s opener.
Speaking after the game, Hughton said: “I thought there were a lot of good things in the performance, we were the better side and we played against a team that are very good at what they do. I thought our possession was good but the difficulty we had was that unless you get those opportunities and goals, then you are always on tenterhooks that you will make a mistake or they will score a quality goal.
“I thought in the first-half period, their goal was the one opportunity that they had. Credit to them for that but we should have been ahead before that.
“Coming out in the second half, you think back to the last two games when we have played well for the first 20 minutes and then dropped and what I was most delighted with was the attitude in the second half. I thought we gave it a really good go, we needed that second goal and on the balance of play and the possession of play we had, we needed to find that formula. It was a game we deserved to win but if you aren’t putting the ball in the back of the net it becomes harder.
“The first half probably summed up where we are but you look for a reaction and I was happier with the reaction that I got today than in the last two games. As the game goes on, they would have played more on the counter attack and we would have had more possession but it was a good time of the goal and we deserved it. We had a spring in our step and got into some good areas in the second half but we were disappointed overall that we couldn’t get the win.”