Keane fury as Potters hand out a mauling
THE RED MIST descended on Roy Keane as he watched Stoke spring a surprise spanking.
Forest’s volatile coach was booked by referee Roger East after the Potters cemented this win through Benik Afobe after Peter Etebo’s early strike.
Keane blew a fuse in the dugout and manager Martin O’Neill said: “He was booked but I genuinely don’t know what for.
“Obviously he had some sort of verbal altercation with the linesman.”
Keane’s loss of temper summed up the afternoon for a Forest side hoping to close the gap on the top six.
O’Neill said: “Stoke proved as tough as I thought they would be. I thought we would be ready for it after beating Derby on Monday.
“We looked a bit leggy but there shouldn’t be a reason for that.”
Stoke manager Nathan Jones has been preaching a positive message for weeks and this was a step in the right direction thanks to Etebo and Afobe.
It was Etebo’s first goal for the Potters since arriving in a £6.3million deal from Portuguese second-tier club Feirense.
The Nigerian midfielder’s 15th-minute finish was low and beat Costel Pantilimon.
Perhaps first goals for the club should come with a health warning at Stoke. Just like Sam Vokes a week earlier, Etebo later limped out of the action.
By that time the Potters were good value for their lead as Forest’s play-off ambitions received a reality check.
In fact, had Pantilimon not been on top form to save two Tom Ince efforts the defeat could have been even worse.
Going into the final quarter of an hour Ince shrugged off shirt-pulling sub Joao Carvalho to feed Afobe and the striker doubled the lead.
This was a first win in seven matches for Jones, who said: “I thought that was our most complete performance since I have been here.
“We had more cutting edge today. Defensively we were very strong and we limited them to very little.
“Last week we looked a dejected side but today was totally different.”