Hughton frustrated by the lack of goals in stalemate
BUT BOSS SEES POSITIVES IN DRAW AGAINST ROBINS
NOTTINGHAM Forest were left to rue not making the most of their dominance as they drew 0-0 with Bristol City.
The Reds had been hoping to record three successive League wins for the first time this season but returned home with only a point from their trip to Ashton Gate.
Chris Hughton’s side had the majority of the possession and hit the post through Alex Mighten in a good first half but struggled to create too many clear-cut chances.
Nevertheless, a clean sheet ensured they made it four unbeaten and took another step towards guaranteeing Championship safety.
Here’s what Forest manager Hughton had to say at full-time.
■Is there a sense of frustration at not getting the win?
“The disappointing thing is, for a game we had really good control of, it was the type of game you could end up losing at the end. They made a lot of changes and went quite direct.
“But overall, I was pleased with a lot of aspects of our play.
“We got the ball into the final third a lot. But if you don’t score, and don’t score at the right time, you put a bit more pressure on yourself.
“Once I go away and think about it, I’ll probably be pleased with the performance overall but not the fact that we never got the goal, or goals, to win the game.”
■■Do you feel you should have made the goalkeeper work more?
“We hit the post but if I look at threatening the goalkeeper, we haven’t done that enough.
“If it was the type of game where we didn’t have the amount of possession we had, it would be a bit different. But if I think of the amount of times Anthony Knockaert or Alex Mighten got the ball into the box, and the number of crosses we had, we’ve not worked them enough. That’s the disappointing thing.”
■Was the first half as good as you’ve passed the ball this season?
“Yes, I think so. “Credit to Bristol City. They have gone through a difficult period and had a lot of injuries, which is difficult to deal with.
“We hoped to capitalise on it and I think we did in the first half.
“It probably showed that one team was in better form than the other. But you always expect a reaction and they got the reaction their manager would have wanted in the second half. They made it more difficult for us.
“In those good periods, that’s when we really needed to capitalise on it with goals.”
■Did you feel it was important to make a good start, given Bristol City’s recent form?
“We wanted to make sure we started well.
“We said to the players, there would be a reaction here, because they are not on a good run at the moment. We were aware of some of the things their manager had said. “We expected a reaction. “What we saw in that first half was perhaps a measure of where the two clubs are at the moment – one lacking a bit of confidence and one not. I think that showed.
“But in the second half, the fact we hadn’t scored allowed them to build a bit more confidence.”
■Do you think you are still continuing to make progress?
“Yes. The Easter weekend was very good for us – two very different games, which we had to win in very different ways.
“There’s always the thought that, at another stage of the season, this is a game we might have lost.
“It’s another clean sheet away from home.
“Even though we didn’t get the goals to win it, there certainly are some positives.”
■Can you still be happy with the performance, even if you didn’t get all three points?
“If I look at this group of last six games, what’s important for me is we finish the season well.
“That doesn’t necessarily have to mean the exact results you want.
“But as regards the performances, we want to finish the season well.
“I think there was a touch of that today. Our level of performance was
good but unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
■There was no Sammy Ameobi in the squad. Was that down to injury?
“Sammy tweaked his ankle in training. It’s very minimal.
“We had to make a decision on whether to play him or not.
“At this stage of the season, I didn’t think it was worth risking him in case he ended up making it worse.
“We fully expect him to train next week and to be available for next Saturday.”