Chris Hughton felt Nottingham Forest paid the price for not being able to “finish off” Derby County as the Reds were forced to settle for a point at Pride Park.
On-loan Manchester United midfielder James Garner had given Hughton’s side the lead 12 minutes before the break with the first goal of his senior career following good work by Joe Worrall.
Forest assumed control of the game from that moment on and dominated large spells of the second half as they looked to make the most of their superiority.
But they could not find a second goal and were punished six minutes from time when an error from Tobias Figueiredo ended with Colin Kazim-Richards lashing in a superb strike from 20 yards.
And speaking after the game, Reds boss Hughton said the players were frustrated at not being able to see out the victory over their arch-rivals, who haven’t beaten Forest since 2017.
“They are disappointed,” he said.
“There was a period in the first half when they were probably better than us in possession.
“But they didn’t really threaten if I am looking at the opportunities that they had.
“I thought we were better in the second half and probably our biggest failing was not being able to finish off the game.
“If you are hanging on and not getting into good areas then that’s different.
“But I thought we got into some really good areas in that second half and the goal they scored can happen.
“It was a wonderful strike, but at that stage of the game I felt our lead should have been greater and then it wins us the game.”
