Tunn’s up to leave Karanka on the brink
RYAN TUNNICLIFFE’S spectacular overhead kick gave Millwall victory at The Den and left Nottingham Forest boss Aitor Karanka fighting for his job.
The Spaniard went into the game amid speculation that he had two games in which to convince the Forest owners that he is the right man to regain the club’s Premier League status.
Karanka believes that talk of his future affected his players in the build-up to the game and caused a disjointed first-half display.
He said: “In the first half we weren’t ourselves. We didn’t play with our intensity. We tried to do things that we don’t know how to do.
“The last 24 hours for us meant it wasn’t the best atmosphere to prepare for this game. When I played 15 years ago, you could have gone into this game without hearing things.
“But now everyone knows what is going on and I felt the players were a little bit down before the game.”
Karanka insists that he was brought to the City Ground with a long-term vision in mind. He was moved by the vocal support he received from the Forest fans throughout the game in spite of his side’s abject start.
He added: “The aim of everybody and the reason I took the job was to build something similar to what I did at Middlesbrough, which took two-and-a-half years. We wanted to build something with patience. This has just been the first year.”
Tunnicliffe spectacularly struck in the ninth minute when the ball dropped to him following a corner. It set Millwall on the road to their second win in four days. They are now three points clear of the relegation zone and looking upwards.
Steve Morison should have made the points safe as the game approached injury-time but his shot struck the post after a lung-bursting run from fellow sub Aiden O’Brien.
Lions boss Neil Harris said: “The Boxing Day win was massive for us. It enabled everyone to relax a little bit today. A win at Ipswich on New Year’s Day would make it the perfect Christmas but we won’t get carried away yet.”