Jack Colback was the talk of the City Ground and beyond after scoring a spectacular goal as Nottingham Forest swept aside West Bromwich Albion 4-0 on Easter Monday.
The Reds cruised into a dominant position after Darnell Furlong had collected a second yellow card in only the 17th minute, following up a foul on Philip Zinckernagel by handling a James Garner shot in the area. Brennan Johnson converted the penalty and Ryan Yates added another with a 23rd-minute header, before Colback hit a spectacular volley from the tightest of angles, wide on the left. But was it intended as a shot or a cross?
Sam Surridge completed the scoring in the third minute of added time, as Forest took a firmer grip on their position in the play-off places. Colback's unlikely stunner dominated much of the post-match discussion, with Reds boss Steve Cooper saying: “Jack said that he tried it… brilliant.
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"I will let him talk about that. But he was excellent, man of the match. Jack is not a character who generally craves any extra praise. He is a bit of a throwback on that front. I am not going to argue with him if he said he meant it.
“It is one of the best goals we have seen at the City Ground this season, even if we have seen a few good ones. I thought the fourth goal was good as well… I don’t know how many passes there were involved."
Colback himself was asked if he had been trying to score in a post-match interview with Sky Sports. "Yeah, 100%, yeah," he replied, with a slight smirk on his face. "I thought I'd hit it and it went in, so...
"Listen, I hit it towards goal and it was nice to see it go in."
Asked if he had tried anything like that before, Colback said: "Not really," before joking: "I just need the service a bit more!"
Teammate Garner was then asked if he had seen anything like it before? "No," said the on-loan Manchester United midfielder. "I know he's going to take it. I'm not sure if he meant it, but I know he's going to take it. It was a wonderful goal."
Back in the Sky Sports studio, former Forest striker Glenn Murray did not think Colback meant to shoot.
He said: "Without doubt, a cross!" Fellow pundit Neil Warnock disagreed and cut in to say: "No! He definitely meant it!"
Murray added: "It's an absolutely unbelievable strike, and I think his reaction tells me it's a cross rather than a shot, because if he meant that, he'd be wheeling up that line, because that's the best goal he'll ever score!"
Warnock concluded the discussion by saying: "It's a great strike... even if it is a cross."
