Nottingham Forest suffered a 2-0 play-off semi-final defeat to Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium to end their Under-23s campaign.
It seemed almost inevitable that the young Potters would win after Forest attacking midfielder Ateef Konate was shown a straight red card on 14 minutes for lashing out at Jack Griffiths. The Potters midfielder received a yellow card for his initial trip on the Forest man.
George Shelvey produced arguably the performance of his career as he produced several top class saves to keep out efforts from Will Goodwin, D’Margio Wright-Phillips and Emre Tezgel either side of half-time. But the Forest shot-stopper could do nothing to stop Griffiths from heading into the back of the net on 75 minutes after a pin-point cross from Edward Jones.
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The away side sent players bombing forwards as the game went into stoppage time and Goodwin eventually grabbed the goal his performance deserved as he took advantage of the Forest overload by slotting past Shelvey when one-on-one.
This is how Matt Lee rated the Forest players’ performance against Stoke City…
George Shelvey: Two really good saves to keep the hosts out in the first-half. Produced even more strong saves to keep Forest in the game after the break, but was beaten by Griffiths' header midway through second half. 8
Fin Back: Had a couple of chances to push forward as an overlapping full-back, but struggled to produce anything clear-cut. 6
Alex Gibson-Hammond (subbed off 68mins): Had a good attacking chance midway through first half when he drove forwards but opted to lay the ball to Swan. Next time needs to show selfishness to strike himself. 7
Baba Fernandes (subbed off 77mins): Had one shaky moment early in first half when he shanked a clearance into his own box, but an otherwise steady performance. 7
Josh Barnes: Stood firm in defence alongside Fernandes and Harbottle but was beaten by Griffiths to the match-winning header. 7
Riley Harbottle: Took the captain's armband and produced another commanding performance in central defence. Vocal at the back, put his body on the line when needed. Strong showing. 7
Billy Fewster: Always going to be a difficult job to control midfield after Konate's red card. Looked to be getting tired as second-half wore on, but did well in midfield without a key attacking team-mate. 7
Ollie Hammond: Was given some freedom to roam forwards after Konate's dismissal. Had a couple of through balls spark half-chances but was forced deeper as the game wore on. 7
Will Swan: He has scored 12 goals in PL2 this season but could not add to his impressive tally. Had only a few chances to do so after Konate's red card. 7
Ateef Konate: Game over before it had really started. Didn't need to lash out given he had already been awarded a foul, no complaints about red card on 14mins. 4
Julian Larsson (subbed off, 84mins): Best chance came when he stole the ball from Simkin on the edge of the box but had too tight an angle to get a shot goal-ward. 6
Lewis Salmon (on for Larsson, 84mins): Did not have enough time to make a real impact up-front. N/A
Dale Taylor (on for Fernandes, 77mins): A typical performance from the Northern Irishman up-front. Used his body to force defenders around and had pace which troubled the hosts. 7
Josh Powell (on for Gibson-Hammond, 68mins): Brought on to add another dimension in midfield but lacked what was ultimately needed. 6
