Smashing Grabban!

LEWIS GRABBAN snatched a last-gasp winner for Nottingham Forest to silence the boos at his former club.

It is more than a decade since Grabban pulled on a Millwall shirt.

But after being jeered for most of the match, he was on hand to score the winner in added time.

It came six days after his goal saw off Arsenal in Forest’s FA Cup giant-killing.

“He probably thrived off it,” visiting boss Steve Cooper said of the home crowd’s reception.

“He is finding himself in the right places at the moment.

“We were never going to settle for the draw. We had over 20 shots in the second half, so I am glad one went in. I thought we were good for it in the end.”

In a fast-paced end-to-end encounter, Grabban had the final word, forcing the ball home after Bartosz Bialkowski had saved Philip Zinckernagel’s shot following Brennan Johnson playing the ball into the area.

It was tough on the Millwall goalkeeper, who had made a series of good saves, most notably a brilliant one-handed stop from Ryan Yates at the end of the first half.

But Forest had been grateful to their own keeper, Brice Samba, to keep them in it late on, as his save from Benik Afobe in the dying moments seemed to have denied Millwall a winner themselves, having pushed away a free-kick from Scott Malone minutes earlier.

“Brice made some excellent saves but we created a lot of chances,” added Cooper.

“It was important to put Arsenal to bed quickly because we knew how tough this game would be.”

Millwall had started at a furious pace, dominating the first 30 minutes as Malone and Tom Bradshaw went close. But the home side struggled to find the same rhythm in the second half after losing Bradshaw and Sheyi Ojo to injury. Bialkowski twice denied Grabban before Millwall were hit on the break for the winner.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow but that is Championship football,” said Millwall boss Gary Rowett.

“If the game becomes end to end you have to take your chances – and we had a couple of good ones in the second half.

“We tried everything in the second period to try and win the game. We made one crucial error and were made to pay for it.”

PILE OF SMILES Forest in bundle of joy after Grabban’s winner MILLWALL: Bialkowski 8; Hutchinson 7, Cooper 6, M Wallace 6; McNamara 7, Mitchell 7, Evans 6, Malone 6, Ojo 7 (Thompson 46, 5); Bradshaw 7 (Bennett 28, 7), Afobe 7. Subs not used: Long, Kieftenbeld, Smith, Mahoney, Burey. NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Samba 8; Worrall 6, Cook 6, McKenna 5; Spence 6, Yates 7, Garner 6, Colback 7; Johnson 7, Grabban 7, Davis 6 (Zinckernagel 75, 6). Subs not used: Horvath, Figueiredo, Bong, Dias, Silva, Taylor. MAN OF THE MATCH: Brice Samba. Two brilliant goalkeeping displays, but Samba’s two late saves kept Forest in it. REFEREE: Peter Bankes 7.