Forest’s inability to put away chances forces a draw against Stoke

Stoke City and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1 at the Bet365 Stadium in freak fashion, two strange own goals meant the two could not be separated in a very cold and foggy Staffordshire.

It was a huge point for Chris Hughton’s Forest as they came from behind to draw, but they could have won in the end with some great chances in the last 10 minutes.  

Scoring has been a huge problem for the East Midlands outfit this season, proving again tonight with the inability to finish clear cut chances, only being saved by a James Chester own goal. 

Stoke will certainly be feeling a draw was a fair result, as they still do not have a full squad to choose from. 

Forest were the better side throughout the game with significantly more shots on goal, they had 14 shots to the Potters’ six, but could only get two on target. Hughton will certainly be looking to bring in some fire power up top in the January window with captain Lewis Grabban having a game to forget. 

Grabban was mainly at fault for the home sides goal inside 16 minutes when Jordan Thompson whipped in a dangerous corner to the front post, strangely enough, the Forest captain completely left it at the front post for ‘keeper Brice Samba to fumble into his own net. A moment of chaos. 

Anthony Knockaert was a constant threat for the visitors all game with his darting inside runs, feeding plenty of balls into the box. Eventually one of his crosses forced an own goal by Stoke skipper Chester. The Welshman turned in a powerful header that anyone would have been more than happy with scoring at the right end of the pitch.  

Former Leicester City winger Knockaert realised Forest could have won in the end and said after the game: “It was a poor goal to concede but it is what it is, we needed to get back into the game and we did that. I thought that at the end, they were really lucky not to concede another one and lose the game.” 

Hughton’s side know they must improve their goalscoring performances if they want to cement survival. It was only their fifth goal away from home this season, and two of them have been own goals. It’s clearly a problem. 

Stoke have their own problems up front, but their problem is actually creating the chances. Only six attempts on goal, but some good Samba saves denied them the chance to score.  

It was great to see Joe Allen play 60 minutes for the first time this season after nine months out with an achilles injury. The Wales international played a big part as a holding midfielder. When he came off, the visitors had a lot more space in front of the defence. 

Forest had the chance to win the game in the 86th minute, when Jon Obi Mikel’s wayward back pass threaded through Cafu, who couldn’t squeeze the ball past an oncoming Joe Bursik, who tremendously saved with his feet. 

If it wasn’t for Hughton’s side’s poor display in front of goal, Stoke would have lost the game and Forest would have picked up a crucial three points. 

However in the end, it was deemed a fair result in the end. Michael O’Neil said after the game: “We looked good in the first half but then we lost the initiative as, in the second half, it turned into a bit of a farce and we presented them with opportunities.” 

Chris Hughton also reiterated the need for the poor display infront of goal and said: “Once we got the equaliser, it was about whether we could get a winner. Cafu’s chance is the best chance of the game, but that is the story of part of our season. We haven’t been able to get the goals to win games.” 

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt