Nottingham Forest vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance24,722.
Saturday 28 April 2018 19:22, UK
Bristol City saw their play-off hopes ended by a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest - but it could have been even worse for Lee Johnson's men.
Aitor Karanka's side threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Robins but could not turn 25 efforts on goal into a single goal as Frank Fielding stood tall, with the keeper even saving a Lee Tomlin penalty.
Forest should have signed off the season at the City Ground with a comfortable win but saw Tomlin, Joe Lolley, Adlene Guedioura and Andreas Bouchalakis all spurn golden chances in a game they dominated.
City never looked like securing the three points they needed to sustain their slim chances of a top-six finish.
Tomlin almost made an immediate impact against his former club as he collected the ball just inside the Bristol half and carried it to the edge of the box, where he cut inside onto his right foot to drive in a shot that Fielding saved well at his near post.
When Lolley cut in from the right side to carve out a shooting chance of his own, he struck it with plenty of force - which was bad news for Nathan Baker, who made a brave block, which he paid a big price for.
After five minutes of treatment, Baker was carried off the pitch to be replaced by Callum O'Dowda in the 13th minute.
Tomlin came close again with another shot from the edge of the box. When Tendayi Darikwa whipped in a cross from the right side, it perfectly picked out Lolley in the centre, but a good move and a good ball in were not matched by a wayward finish - the story of the game for Forest.
A flick on from Daryl Murphy picked out Bouchalakis, but the Greek midfielder's drive cleared the bar by inches.
Marlon Pack then drove a low shot across goal and only narrowly wide for Bristol, before Bouchalakis spurned another golden chance for the home side, as he headed over from a Lolley cross.
Lolley twice threatened and the Bristol keeper was drawn into action again when Tomlin had yet another effort on goal. Ben Osborn's cross found Guediouora unmarked eight yards out - only for the midfielder to send the ball spinning wide.
Lolley then curled a shot inches wide, following yet more good build-up play.
Tomlin had another shot saved at the start of the second half, while Bouchalakis hit another one over.
Fielding then hacked down Osborn in the box, earning him a booking, and gave Tomlin the chance to net from the penalty spot.
But Fielding perfectly read his kick, diving low to his right to make a simple save from what was a poor effort to convert, in the 65th minute.
Michael Mancienne fired into the side-netting and Osborn crossed when he could have shot while Murphy saw a header saved by Fielding as City held out.
Aitor Karanka: "I am really pleased, because once again we were playing for nothing, but it was the last home game of the season and we wanted to finish the season in our stadium in the best way. I do not know how many chances we created, and we had a penalty.
"But we gave opportunities to different players and their attitude has been amazing. I am pleased, because this is the way I wanted to finish the season."
Lee Johnson: "I am already excited about next season, so much work has been going on behind the scenes. We have three or four young lads coming through and we hope the experience of big games like this will help them.
"I thought we started the game well, but we lost our momentum after that incident. We think Nathan is all right, but it was a knock-out blow, like a punch from Tyson Fury. It caught him flush right in the side of the mush and knocked him out. We have to monitor him for the next few weeks. He was clean knocked out."
