Mckay gives new owner ideal start

Nottingham Forest ushered in the Evangelos Marinakis era with a victory that suggested their new Greek owner might have brought them luck as well as a professional management structure in place of the chaos that reigned under former proprietor Fawaz al Hasawi.

Millwall, whose physical style helped earn them promotion from League One last season as Forest hung on to their Championship status by a thread, had chance after chance to make it a bad night for the home side in front of a sell-out 28,000 crowd but were mostly second best.

Although Millwall were guilty of some terrible finishing, with striker Lee Gregory responsible for their two most glaring misses, they also ran into a flawless goalkeeper in 22-year-old Jordan Smith.

To make matters still worse for Neil Harris’s team, the only one of their 22 efforts on goal that did find the net was disallowed for a foul by Gregory on Smith, which prompted referee Peter Bankes to decide that Steve Morison’s lovely, angled volley from a Jed Wallace cross counted for nothing.

By contrast, Forest produced one moment of brilliance and scored from it, as Barrie Mckay, the winger signed for £500,000 from Rangers cut in from the left and unleashed a superb right-footed strike from 25 yards that sailed past the helpless

Payback: Barrie Mckay, Forest’s £500,000 buy from Rangers, scored the winner

Jordan Archer and clipped the near post on its way in.

“I can’t remember a game where we have been so good and not won,” former Forest striker Harris said.

Forest manager Mark Warburton said: “We were fortunate to ride our luck and take three points.”

Nottingham Forest (4-1-4-1): Smith; Darikwa, Worrall, Mancienne, Traore; Vaughan; Brereton (Dowell 59), Osborn (Cohen 59), Clough, Mckay; Murphy (Mills 77). Subs Evtimov (gk), Lichaj, Cummings, Vellios.

Millwall (4-4-2): Archer; Mclaughlin, Hutchinson, Cooper, Meredith; Wallace, Williams (Elliott 83), Saville, O’brien (Onyedinma 67); Morison, Gregory (Ferguson 77)

Subs King (gk), Craig, Thompson, Webster. Booked

Saville. Referee Peter Bankes (Merseyside).