PEN FLUFFED & ROBINS STUFFED

AITOR KARANKA says some of his players might have played their way into a long-term future at Nottingham Forest.

The Reds boss gave an opportunity to players like Andreas Bouchalakis, Daryl Murphy and Adlene Guedioura, who have found their chances limited since he took on the role in January.

And his new-look side responded with a dominant, electric display that produced everything but a goal, with a Lee Tomlin penalty miss among 25 efforts that failed to find the back of the net.

The point was not enough to sustain Bristol’s hopes of securing a play-off place – but it could have been far worse for Lee Johnson’s side.

Karanka said: “I am really pleased, because once again we were playing for nothing, but it was the last home game of the season and we wanted to finish the season in our stadium in the best way.

“I do not know how many chances we created and we had a penalty. But we gave opportunities to different players and their attitude has been amazing.

“I am pleased, because this is the way I wanted to finish the season.

“We had a very good first half and the second half we had the penalty. We could not score but I was very pleased with the attitude of everyone.”

Bristol boss Johnson said he felt the turning point of the game was the moment Nathan Baker was knocked out by a shot from Joe Lolley, forcing a 13th minute change.

Johnson said: “I thought we started the game well, but we lost our momentum after that incident – it was like a punch from Tyson Fury.”

Johnson paid tribute to Frank Fielding for the penalty save.

He added: “You always fancy Frank in that situation.”