FOREST BLOW CHANCE TO PULL CLEAR OF THE PACK

Nott’m Forest

NOTTINGHAM FOREST are relying on their lawyers to defend better than their footballers after throwing away a win that could have been vital in their fight against relegation.

Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo saw a chance to put daylight between his team and the bottom three, with Luton losing 5-1 at Manchester City.

Yet the draw means Forest are only one clear of the drop zone.

Espirito Santo said: ‘The first goal was too soft and on the second we should have done better individually. The way we concede was disappointing because we were the better team offensively.

‘It’s a missed opportunity. We are all sad and disappointed. All our players must improve individually because we need the best of each of them. We are in a fight and it is a tough one but we will give it our all.’

Leading 2-1 just after the hour mark, Forest allowed Max Kilman a free header from Pablo Sarabia’s corner. Goalkeeper Matz Sels pushed it against Wolves substitute Hwang Heechan, and Matheus Cunha forced in his second goal of the afternoon.

On his first start since

February following a hamstring injury, Cunha also scored one of the goals of the season. Murillo had just denied Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes with a stunning goalline clearance when Cunha picked up the ball inside his own half, glided beyond Andrew Omobamidele and found the top corner with a tremendous strike from a tricky angle.

When Forest won a corner in first-half stoppage-time, Morgan Gibbs-White’s header found the far corner though Jose Sa felt he should have saved it.

What happened next was pure pantomime. Gibbs-White performed his trademark ‘fingers in ears’ gesture in front of the Wolves supporters, then kissed the badge and was reprimanded by Sarabia as he walked back to halfway.

Espirito Santo’s men led early in the second half. Sliding to cut out Chris Wood’s pass to GibbsWhite, Matt Doherty felled his former team-mate and the ball ran loose to Danilo, who steered it past Sa from close range.

The lead lasted only five minutes as Forest’s weakness from set-pieces was exposed again when Cunha scrambled home. Forest sub Divock Origi’s dreadful cross in stoppage time, with Wood unmarked, ensured the game ended level.

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil, who is in the midst of coping with a crippling injury crisis, said: ‘We are light on bodies but we showed great character.’