COHEN GOES WITH PRAISE FOR GAFFER

EMOTIONAL skipper Chris Cohen paid tribute to ‘classy’ Aitor Karanka after the Spaniard allowed him to end an 11-year Forest career with a late cameo.

The injury-plagued 31-year-old defender, who will move into fulltime coaching at the City Ground, came off the bench for the final minute plus stoppage time against Bristol City.

In a stalemate notable only for Lee Tomlin’s 65th-minute penalty saved by City keeper Frank Fielding (above), Cohen brought the crowd to their feet with his first appearance since August.

He said: “It was fantastic. I didn’t ask for it. The manager pulled me a couple of weeks ago and said that because of my amount of time here I deserved a role. I thought that was a real touch of class.”

Karanka explained: “When I knew we were safe, I suggested Chris should play because I was a player and the best way to say goodbye is on the pitch.”

It promises to be a busy summer of rebuilding for Forest and Karanka said: “It is impossible to keep improving if we don’t score goals. This is the main aim now – to try to find the right players to score goals because we look like an organised team.”

City’s faint top-six hopes were extinguished and boss Lee Johnson is busy planning.

He said: “We need to continue to get our recruitment right with two of three for the first team and keep blooding the young players like Lloyd Kelly and Liam Walsh.

“Then hopefully good decisions, good coaching and good development will take us where we want to be.”