Murphy buys some time for Karanka’s kids

BRISTOL CITY 1

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1

THE pre-season buzz had been about Nottingham Forest’s trio of whippersnappers from Portugal, but it was the journeymen o’war to the rescue for Aitor Karanka on the opening day. Veterans Adlene Guedioura and Ben Watson hauled Forest back into the contest and 35-year-old Daryl Murphy equalised the opener from Andreas Weimann. Such is Forest’s ambition after 20 years outside the top flight, and such has been their excitement waiting for this season to start, that the visitors went home frustrated with a point. But at least they had silenced the soloist at the back of the Lansdown Stand who was crowing about Karanka getting sacked in the morning. And they bought time for Joao Carvalho, Gil Dias and Diogo Goncalves, their Portugal Under 21 starlets, to digest the helter-skelter of the Championship before they face West Brom at the City Ground tomorrow. ‘They’re going to terrorise defences once they get used to the pace,’ Murphy said. ‘And once they get used to the league. I’ve told them, “You’d better get ready because this league is like nothing you’ve ever played in before”. It’s relentless. It’s tough. ‘You can see how hard they work. We came off and they were in bits. And I said, “Come on, you’ve got to go again on Tuesday”. ‘There are so many games, six or seven a month. And the speed of it. It’s very demanding. But as soon as they suss it out I don’t think there will be any stopping them.’ Carvalhao was signed for a club record £13million from Benfica, Goncalves is on loan from the same club and Dias on loan from Monaco. At the same time, Forest have accrued know-how in the shape of Watson, 33, Guedioura, 32, in January and Michael Dawson, 34, back as captain. They paid £6m for Lewis Grabban who is on £35,000 a week, but Karanka put his faith in Murphy up front and was repaid with a vital header in the first minute of the second half. ‘With the signings we’ve made we’ve every chance,’ said Murphy on promotion prospects. ‘We have the squad to cope which we didn’t last year. It’s good to get off the mark. Hopefully there’s many more but I can’t say I’ll play every game because I won’t at my age. There’s players on the bench who can do just as good as a job. ‘I could score in the next four games and might not play in the next few. That’s the way it is. It’s good for the gaffer.’ City dominated the first half-hour, then Forest found a better rhythm before both sides wilted in the heat. ‘We caught them by surprise,’ said Weimann, a £2m signing from Derby. ‘We started with high intensity and should have scored a couple more goals. Maybe it was a bit of culture shock to them.’