Garner leads way for Reds, even wears armband for a while...

MIDFIELDER SAYS HE WANTS TO GET ON BALL ALL THE TIME FOR FOREST

MIDFIELDER James Garner caught the eye with a man of the match performance for Nottingham Forest against Brentford at the weekend.

And the youngster prompted a few fans to do a double take when he donned the captain’s armband late on in the 1-1 draw.

Garner, though, has explained it wasn’t an intentional move to take on the role of skipper, it was more that referee Graham Scott was eager to keep the game flowing.

Lewis Grabban had been substituted in the 81st minute against the Bees and, with Joe Worrall – who had been captain while Grabban was sidelined – missing through injury, Garner was first to pick up the armband.

The Manchester United loanee handed it to Scott Mckenna eventually but it only added to what had been a fine afternoon’s work for the 20-year-old.

“I don’t think it was intentional,” said Garner.

“The referee said it was league rules that someone’s got to have it on their arm, so it wasn’t intentional.”

He added: “I love to play in a game where I’m getting all of the ball. I love to get on the ball – touches, passes.

“I’ll do anything I can to help the team get a result.”

Garner had put in arguably his best display in the Garibaldi since joining the Reds in January, controlling the centre of the pitch alongside Cafu against promotion-chasing Brentford.

Chris Hughton’s side had fallen behind to an early penalty, conceded by Gaetan Bong and coolly converted by Ivan Toney.

But they fought back and levelled through Filip Krovinovic after the break, coming away with a point in their final outing before the international break.

“I thought we were in the game for the full 90 minutes,” Garner told Sky Sports.

“It was a tough one to concede such a daft penalty but I thought we’d played well up until then and we carried on playing well.

“I think it’s a good point. “At half-time the manager just said to keep on doing what we had been doing, because we’d been playing well.

“He said to keep on getting the ball wide and the chance will come.”