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Mcgugan Pleases Boss

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Manager Colin Calderwood hailed Lewis McGugan after his brilliant match-winning free-kick kept Nottingham Forest in the hunt for automatic promotion.

McGugan struck just five minutes from time to end Forest’s frustration and leave Gillingham ruing the loss of a vital survival point.

Although Forest dominated the first half they were running out of attacking ideas when Gillingham defender Brent Sancho brought down substitute Nathan Tyson three yards outside the box.



And with Gillingham preparing for a left footer from Kris Commons, teenager McGugan stepped up to curl a superb right-foot shot past French goalkeeper Romain Larrieu.

Calderwood said: ‘He has got his own style of taking free-kicks and now we’ve got a threat from both sides with Lewis with his right foot and Kris Commons with his left.

‘I don’t think the pressure of the situation was an issue for him. Pressure is when he has got to try and win a ball that isn’t necessarily his but Lewis is a level-headed lad and just gets on with his job.

‘He has already had a few highs and lows in his short first-team career but those experiences will make him an even better player. He is a quiet boy but he is reaping the benefit of what I believe is an excellent youth policy at this club.’

Gillingham boss Ronnie Jepson made no attempt to hide his disappointment with the performance of the match officials.

He said: ‘I don’t know whether the free-kick that led to the goal was a free-kick or not. The referee, who was five yards away, was not going to give it but a busy linesman who was 20 yards away raised his flag.

‘It’s just a shame the other linesman wasn’t as busy when Gary Mulligan got pulled down in the box. It was a blatant penalty.

‘Gary is as honest as the day is long and was pulled down in the box for a penalty but when you haven’t got the best part of 20,000 people shouting for decisions, you don’t get always get them.

‘I thought my players battled away well. We rode our luck in the first half but we stuck at it and in the end we are bitterly disappointed not to come out of the game with a point to show for our efforts.’




Nottingham Evening Post

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