Martin O'Neill: Nottingham Forest top-six finish still possible despite painful defeat

Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill during the Sky Bet Championship match at The City Ground, Nottingham. 
New Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill watched his side lose 1-0 to Bristol City Credit: PA

Martin O’Neill freely admitted to being a bad loser who will take several days to get over the sting of defeat in his first match on his return to the City Ground as Nottingham Forest’s manager.

As a Forest player, O’Neill knew the standards set by Brian Clough were high and feared defeat could cost him his place in the side.

As a manager the Northern Irishman has set his own high standards, leading to successful spells at Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa before a stint in charge of the Republic of Ireland. His first assignment at stuttering Forest, who have won only one of their past nine matches, was made trickier by injuries and suspensions. A patchwork defence was stretched to the limit by in-form Bristol City, who spoiled O’Neill’s homecoming with a one-goal victory.

O’Neill said: “I’ve always been pretty poor at dealing with bad results. It was bad enough when I was a player. I was always last out of the dressing room.

“When I was a player here, losing could threaten your position in the team. When I played here, Forest were a good team and were generally winning anyway.

“As a manager I’ve always felt the pain of losing and it is not something you get over very easily. Today gave me a better understanding and a better idea of the character of the team. The gap has opened a little bit but we can still finish in the top six. We can improve on today’s performance.”

Famara Diedhiou scored the only goal of the game, providing a simple finish to Andreas Weimann’s pass in the 70th minute. It was a fifth successive victory for City, who are pushing the top six hard for a play-off place.

City manager Lee Johnson said: “It is going to come to an end at some point and when it does we’ve got to get back on the bike as quickly as possible and go for the next one.

“We’ve got to go for wins now and see where it takes us.”

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