HUGHTON UP AND RUNNING!

Ice-cool Lolley is tasty for Forest

- Chris Dunlavy

AN INJURY-TIME winner from Joe Lolley gave Chris Hughton a dream start to his Nottingham Forest career.

Appointed to replace the sacked Sabri Lamouchi last week, the 61-year-old took charge of a side that hadn’t managed a win, a point or even a clean sheet in its opening four matches.

But after 90 minutes of bleakly attritional tedium, Lolley’s deflected strike from distance ensured Hughton returned to the City Ground with all three.

“As a manager that’s been around for a while, I’m really pleased for the players,” said the former Brighton, Norwich City and Newcastle United boss.

“For whatever reason, it wasn’t happening, certainly as regards winning games. And they feel it, these players. There won’t be a single one of them who hasn’t felt the difficulty of this last period.

“So I’m delighted for them and, as a team, hopefully we gain a lot of confidence and take this forward.”

For 45 minutes, very little went forward. Shots from the halfway line, passes that sailed straight out of play, two sets of players seemingly hell-bent on finding a member of the opposition; the lack of quality on show was borderline comical.