Head coach Steve Cooper was left with “mixed feelings” after Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, thinking his team could have taken all three points.
A much better second half from the hosts saw them level shortly after the hour mark, through Serge Aurier. And a draw was the least they deserved by the end.
The Blues had taken the lead in strange circumstances with 16 minutes gone, when Willy Boly had inadvertently deflected a cross on to the bar, which then bounced into the path of Raheem Sterling. Having been doing well up until that point, it was a kick in the gut for the Reds, but they really upped the intensity after the break.
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Taiwo Awoniyi and Brennan Johnson both forced saves from Kepa Arrizabalaga, before Morgan Gibbs-White hit the woodwork. In the 63rd minute, Forest finally got their rewards.
A corner from Gibbs-White, who was back in the team after injury, was kept alive by Willy Boly. Aurier then showed neat control before lashing it home.
“If any team deserved to win, it was certainly us. If you look at the chances in the game, most of them were ours,” Cooper said.
“You can always do better with the goal you concede, but we were unlucky. It could have gone anywhere.
“Although we didn’t quite get the intensity of our press right in the first half, we didn’t look like we were going to concede. We played better in the second half, but we still created some good chances in the first half.
“We didn’t change in the second half, apart from just being a bit better timely with our press. We were the superior team, nobody can take that away from us.
“Mixed feelings on not winning. But I also think we’ve got to be realistic about who we were playing and the team they are. We have to be positive about some of the good things we did."
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