WIGAN MISS THE TARGET
who out-muscled his rivals all day, powered a header past Karl Darlow (right).
He nipped in between Jamaal Lascelles and Ciaran Clark on to a well-angled cross from deep. Both appealed incorrectly for offside.
It got worse. Gary O’neil pinged a diagonal ball from deep which had Paul Dummett backtracking and heading a backpass to the keeper.
Darlow got his angles wrong and could only push it into the path of David Cotterill who tapped into an empty net.
It took 59 minutes for United to come alive, with a scrambled defiance sometimes when you play and everyone wants to hit a quality final pass or finish.
“Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football, we’ve had plenty of chances and just not taken them.
“Some of those players have played every minute of every game – it’s not a massive squad.
“Some of the younger ones, the fitness levels are not the same as the experienced players.
“Lads are coming in because they’re not playing at other clubs goal. Christian Atsu burst down the left and crossed for Jonjo Shelvey to slide in and bundle home with the help of Korey Smith’s back. It was ruled an own goal.
United dominated, City tackled and blocked but the leveller came on 82 minutes.
Clark stooped to bravely head Matt Ritchie’s corner home and City were denied their first win at St James’ Park since 1910.
City boss Lee Johnson, whose position has been under threat, said: “This is our marker – the attitude and willingness. I am taking every positive out of it.” – they’re not coming in readymade, ready to go.”
Jadedness was the reason Joyce gave for the 84th-minute withdrawal of Omar Bogle, who had scored three times in his previous five games. The substitution was booed by the home supporters and Joyce admitted he was disappointed that the fans failed to see his reasoning.
“He’s had a lot of games over a sustained period and is running on empty,” Joyce added.
Forest are only six Possession Shots On Target Shots Off Target Blocked Shots Corners Fouls Conceded Offsides Yellow Cards Red Cards 57% 43% 0 3 7 5 4 2 5 7 12 10 2 3 1 1 0 0 points above Wigan with 12 fixtures remaining, though boss Gary Brazil is not focused on any points target for safety.
“I don’t think about how many points we need,” he said.
“I think there’s 12 games to go and we’ll take as many points as we can out of those games.
“We will get fitter, stronger, work harder and the points will come for us.”