Forest Grab vital victory
FOREST skipper Lewis Grabban grabbed his spotkick chance to give his side only their second away win for boss Chris Hughton.
This much-needed victory for Hughton lifted his struggling side out of the bottom three – but it was tough on Preston who were left frustrated.
Boss Alex Neil revealed that he had words with referee Tim Robinson for giving the spotkick – and missing Grabban’s double touch penalty. And he told him: “You’ve cost us the game.”
The defeat ended a run of three straight league wins for Preston and was a jolt for their hopes of progress towards a top-six push.
When North End defender Darnell Fisher handled an on-target shot by Cafu, Robinson pointed to the spot and Grabban took an age to put the ball in place.
He then slipped but keeper Declan Rudd was beaten – only for Neil to claim it should have been chalked off.
He added: “Grabban hit the ball twice and that’s why our keeper immediately ran to the ref to tell him.
“I think he knows his error but I have no issue with him for the rest of the game.”
Forest manager Chris Hughton dismissed Preston’s claims and thought the penalty was “the right decision”.
He said: “Lewis actually slipped and kicked himself, not the ball.
“It was a welcome goal for us and it feels like a really big win because of the position we are in.
“We’ve found it tough to get that win and we needed a bit of luck to do it.”
Preston have only themselves to blame for blowing their chances in front of goal. Both Tom Barkhuizen and the highlyrated Ben Davies hit the bar with second-half efforts as North End bossed much of the play.
Even before that flurry of activity, Barkhuizen missed a sitter when he swung a left foot at the ball in front of goal, only to send his effort well over.
Minutes before, the forward sent a snapshot over, and then hit the bar when he curled an effort round keeper Brice Samba.
Yet early on, Forest took the game to Preston.
Anthony Knockaert had a golden opportunity in front of goal but could only scoop over.
Twice, Sammy Ameobi got in troublesome efforts, his first being blocked, before he then hit wide.