More misery for Reds as the heat is turned up on Hughton
NOTTINGHAM Forest fell to a fourth straight Championship defeat when they were beaten 1-0 away to Stoke City.
A miserable start to the season continued for Chris Hughton’s side as they failed to register a single shot on target all afternoon, piling further pressure on the Reds manager and leaving his side bottom of the table.
A tentative first half saw few chances created at either end of the pitch, although it was Stoke who had the best ones – albeit without testing Brice Samba.
Tommy Smith was left free at the back post with five minutes on the clock. He connected with Josh Tymon’s cross but could only fire the ball wide, as the Reds breathed a sigh of relief.
Sam Clucas then could not get a header on target, from a similar position, when under pressure from Gaetan Bong as the Potters made the better start.
Forest stayed solid in the first half, with teenager Fin Back making his full League debut on the right of the defence.
Trying to carve out an opening was tough, however. Their only effort of note before the break was an acrobatic attempt from Lyle Taylor, following good footwork by Philip Zinckernagel down the right. The front man could not get his shot on target, though.
The second half started in much the same way as the first, amid a cagey encounter.
The Potters soon got their tails up, though.
Samba was called into action to catch an effort from Smith, then stopped one from Steven Fletcher with his legs, before Jacob Brown fired into the side-netting.
A goal had been coming. And Josh Tymon bagged it with 66 minutes gone from inside the area after a neat passing move, firing across Samba, who got a hand to it.
Still to register a shot on target in the match, substitutes Brennan Johnson and Lewis Grabban almost worked something with little more than 10 minutes to go.
Johnson pounced on a loose ball and picked out his team-mate a few yards from goal, but Grabban could not find the finish.
Hughton’s predecessor, Sabri Lamouchi, was axed after four successive League losses at the beginning of last season – a run of five in all competitions.
But the former Brighton chief insists that is not on his mind.
“It’s not something I think about,” he said.
“What I think about is, we are going through a transitional period at the club. We’ve had a pre-season where we’ve had most of the Under23s training with the squad; we’ve had injuries.
“We are going through a difficult period. It’s a transitional period.
“With this group, however we recruit, it will be a younger, development side.
“Around those changes, what I have to try to do is get results. At the minute, this is the only thing I’m thinking about.
“I understand the disappointment of the crowd. I’m as disappointed and as angry as any of them. This is my responsibility.
“My responsibility is to get results for this club and these supporters.
“With the help of recruitment, we’ll do the best we can.”
Hughton once again came in for fierce criticism from the travelling fans, with some chanting, “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, as well as “we’re going down”.
“You take it because you have to,” said the manager.
“Would I prefer not to? Yes. But these are the emotions of the game. These are the ups and downs of the game.
“We brought a wonderful support who were very vocal and got behind the team. When things don’t go our way, then unfortunately as manager I have to take the brunt of that.
“All we can do is work as hard as we can to get the numbers we need in. It’s been a really tough summer as regards bringing in players. There’s been a big turnaround.
“We are a lot younger, as regards the squad we’ve got. We lost a lot of players at the end of last season. We
need to bring in numbers.
“This is an unforgiving division. It’s not just about the 11 on the pitch, it’s about having a squad which can cope with the rigours of this division – and at the moment we don’t have that.”
Forest have little more than a week in which to complete their transfer business. They have made three additions so far but urgently need more, with Hughton’s options further limited by injuries, illness and suspension.
Asked if he remains confident of turning the results around, he said: “Always you work as hard as you can.
“Every club will go through difficult periods.
“We are not making excuses, we have lost the first four games of the season. In all four games, we have lost by one goal – with those margins, if we were better, it could have gone the other way.
“I’m not saying we’ve been good enough to win those games, but we’ve been decent enough to not lose them. Those are the margins that have to change.
“What will help, will be new players coming in to strengthen the squad.
“We certainly need that.” Next up for Hughton’s side is a home Carabao Cup clash with Wolves tomorrow before taking on Derby County away on Saturday.