Nottingham Forest 1 Bournemouth 1 match report: Forest are left to rue their poor finishing

Marc Pugh's late equaliser punishes the hosts after Henri Lansbury had put them ahead with stunning effort

Forest were left to reflect on their poor finishing yesterday, after Marc Pugh snatched a stoppage-time goal that meant Henri Lansbury’s spectacular 30-yard strike was worth only a point.

The former Arsenal midfielder scored his fifth goal of the season and his third in two matches when his superbly-hit shot after 38 minutes gave substitute goalkeeper Ryan Allsop no chance.

But Lansbury and Simon Cox wasted earlier chances when through on goal and Darius Henderson missed the easiest opportunity of the game in the second half, taking the ball round Allsop after slipping Bournemouth’s offside trap, but somehow pulling it wide of the open goal.

Allsop had replaced Stephen Henderson after the 25-year-old, in his second game on loan from West Ham, was taken off after only 11 minutes with a serious shoulder injury.

He sustained the injury as he stretched to recover the ball at the feet of Forest’s Cox following a good save from Djamal Abdoun. It left him in such pain he needed oxygen on the field and was taken straight to hospital. “It’s a real shame because he has had to be very patient waiting for a chance,” said the Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe.

Pugh’s goal, an angled left-foot strike from just inside the penalty area, rewarded a much improved second-half showing from promoted Bournemouth, for whom Lewis Grabban hit the post at the end of the first half.

“Forest are a top side and we can draw a lot of confidence from coming here and taking a point that we deserved,” Howe added.

The Forest manager, Billy Davies, suggested that referee Phil Gibbs changed his mind when he disallowed a Henderson goal for pushing, but said: “It should not have mattered because we had enough chances to win the game.”

Line-ups:

Nottingham Forest (4-4-2): Darlow; Jara, Hobbs, Collins (Wilson, 51), Cohen; Abdoun, Lansbury, Majewski (Mackie, 64), Reid; Cox (Derbyshire, 73), Henderson.

AFC Bournemouth (4-4-2): Henderson (Allsopp 11); Francis, Ward, Cook, Harte; Surman (Pitman, 73), Arter, Collison, Pugh; Rantie, Grabban.

Referee: Phil Gibbs.