Graeme Jones believes Nottingham Forest’s equaliser should not have stood, but, despite a tenth league defeat on the spin, insists his bottom-of-the-Championship Town team showed the mentality that can get them out of trouble this term.
Kazenga LuaLua was pushed over from behind by Ben Watson before the Reds countered and Joe Lolley’s shot squeezed in underneath keeper Simon Sluga.
It was a pivotal moment because the Hatters had put in one of their most promising away-day performances up to that point in the 36th minute, with Harry Cornick edging them in front on 23 minutes.
But after the equaliser, Lolley scored again and then a late Lewis Grabban penalty ensured a 3-1 scoreline, which though flattering for Forest, confirmed Town’s worst league away run for 92 years.
Asked about the incident involving LuaLua, Jones said: “I think there was three of four fouls given before that and maybe he thought that that wasn’t a foul at that point and played on. I’ve looked at it and my own personal opinion, I thought it was a foul but I’m not the referee.
“I prefer to talk about stopping the shot, saving the shot and things you can control. That was the disappointment, really.”
Despite three wonderful instinctive stops, Sluga was, at least partly culpable for the equaliser, but Jones was not pointing fingers.
“He’s a fantastic reflex keeper, that’s him at his best, when he’s tested. You see it in training,” said the manager, adding: “But it wasn’t just Simon on the goal. You think about a possible free-kick, you think about stopping the shot. I can see Tunni (Ryan Tunnicliffe) and Dan (Potts) out in that area and it was a soft finish in the end.
“That’s disappointing, but I prefer to look at the positives because I was really, really disappointed last week (against Birmingham).”
