Roy driven Potty by faulty Forest
SHOWDOWN WITH LINESMAN CAN’T STOP SPANKING
THE red mist descended on Roy Keane as he watched Stoke hand out an surprise spanking.
Forest’s volatile assistant boss was booked by referee Roger East after the Potters cemented this win through Benik Afobe.
Manager Martin O’neill was prowling the technical area as Keane blew a fuse in the dug-out.
O’neill said: “He was booked, but I genuinely don’t know what for.
“Obviously he had some sort of verbal altercation with the linesman, he was having good fun.”
Keane’s loss of temper pretty much summed up the afternoon for a Forest side hoping to close the gap on the top six.
O’neill insisted: “Stoke proved equally as tough as I thought they would be.
“It’s no surprise how strong they were physically but I thought we would be ready for it after the result on Monday (beating Derby).
“We looked a bit leggy but there shouldn’t be a reason for that.”
What a victory for Stoke though. Manager Nathan Jones has been preaching a positive message for weeks and this was a step in the right direction thanks to goals from Peter Etebo and Afobe.
It was Etebo’s first for the Potters since arriving in a £6.3million deal from Portuguese second-tier club Feirense and came after a driving run from a Tom Ince pass.
The Nigerian midfielder’s finish was low and beyond the grasp of keeper Costel Pantilimon.
Perhaps debut goals should come with a health warning at Stoke. Just like Sam Vokes a week earlier, Etebo limped off before the end.
By that time the Potters were good value for their lead as Forest’s play-off ambitions received a reality check.
In fact, had Pantilimon not been on top form to save two Ince efforts the defeat could have been even worse.
The arrival of sub Joao Carvalho sparked hopes of a brief revival for Forest and also tested Jack Butland for the first time.
But going into the final quarter of an hour, Ince shrugged off shirt-pulling Carvalho to feed Afobe and the striker doubled the lead.
This was a first win in seven matches for Jones, who said: “I thought that was our most complete performance since I have been here. We had a little bit more cutting edge today.
“Defensively we were very strong and we limited them to very little.
“Last week they looked a dejected side but today was totally different.”