Johnson fails to take his chances

Norwich City 0 Nottingham Forest

David Johnson, the country's leading scorer, wasted the chance of the evening as he was taunted and teased on his return to East Anglia last night with Nottingham Forest's youngsters claiming a hard-earned point at promotion rivals Norwich City.

The former Ipswich Town frontman Johnson was jeered throughout at Carrow Road, but missed the chance to grab the winner for Forest when he fired wide after rounding home goalkeeper Richard Green with 14 minutes remaining.

Johnson, already with 16 goals this season, latched onto a through ball by David Prutton and outpaced defensive pair Malky MacKay and Craig Fleming before rounding Green in the area. But the angle proved too tight as he fired wide with the best chance of the night.

"He got in a good position and the way he has been playing this season I thought he may have scored," Norwich manager Nigel Worthington admitted afterwards.

Paul Hart, the Nottingham Forest manager, hailed his battling youngsters as the City Ground side extended their unbeaten run to eight. "I thought we were excellent. As manager of the club I have to say I was delighted with the performance." Forest had dominated the opening period with Johnson firing tamely at Green after just eight minutes.

Midfielder Ricardo Scimeca also brought the best out of Green from 25-yards with the Norwich keeper pushing a drive over the top after the home side had failed to clear Johnson's initial cross from the right.

Norwich's Phil Mulryne went close to grabbing a bizarre opener when his cross from the left almost caught goalkeeper Darren Ward out, while Scimeca's 20-yard free-kick two minutes before the break went the wrong side of the upright.

Harewood created space for himself on the edge of the area four minutes after the restart, but was again denied when defender MacKay blocked a goalbound effort.

Norwich forced their way back into the game and midfielder Gary Holt forced a save from Ward with a 25-yard drive and Paul McVeigh then shot wide from a similar distance.

Drury, the Norwich defender, went closer for the home side when his effort shaved the post. Substitute Nicky Southall tried his luck with a shot on the turn after he had collected Mark Rivers' cross, but he volleyed it over the top.

Norwich City (4-3-1-2): Green; Kenton (Fleming 30), Drury, Nedergaard, MacKay; Emblen (Southall 70), Mulryne (Rivers 62), Holt; McVeigh; Nielsen, Roberts. Substitutes: Crichton (gk), Abbey.

Nottingham Forest (4-3-3): Ward; Louis-Jean, Brennan, Walker, Dawson; Scimeca, Prutton, Williams; Lester, Harewood, Johnson. Substitutes: Roche (gk), Jess, Hjelde, Doig, Reid.

Referee: J Ross (London).