Lamouchi lavishes praise on ‘positive’ performer Adomah

Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi hailed the impactful performance of Albert Adomah as the super-sub again salvaged a point for his side.

Two minutes after his 77th-minute introduction, the free-transfer summer signing from Aston Villa slotted home the equaliser in a 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Preston at the City Ground, just as he did 10 days ago at Charlton.

With Adomah scoring three goals in his last four appearances, including the opener in a 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Derby in midweek when he started that game, Lamouchi said: “He is very positive. All the time he creates something. He takes the ball and something can happen.

“He gave us the point against Charlton, he changed the game against Derby, and today he gave us the possibility to come back in the game and to try to win.

“He started (matches) with us, playing 90 minutes, but he has an impact, he has a lot of experience, and he is a very important player for me and for the squad, of course.”

Asked whether Adomah was close to starting against Preston after his display against Derby, Lamouchi said: “Yes, it was a choice. We need to think about that.”

A draw proved a fair result as Preston were the better side in a first half in which Forest failed to register a shot on target, capped off by Billy Bodin’s 40th-minute strike.

But the arrivals of Samba Sow, at the start of the second period, then Joao Carvalho in the 68th minute and Adomah nine minutes later turned the game Forest’s way.

Lamouchi said: “After the first half it was difficult. At one down, it was lucky for us because Preston started the game in a good way and we didn’t play the first half.

“They won the first half, we won the second because we started to play. We changed something, we were more aggressive, we had more rhythm, and we tried until the end to win.

“The positive is that we stayed in the game, we came back into the game, and we never gave up. I like the character of my players.”

Forest are now unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions, while Preston have lost just one of their last seven.

Boss Alex Neil felt the result was “a remarkable feat” given the players he was forced to play out of position due to injuries.

“I thought in the first half we were totally dominant. I don’t think they had an answer for us,” said Neil.

“In the second half, we knew they were going to come out and be more aggressive. To be fair to Forest, I thought they did the scrappy bits of the second half better than us.

“But the biggest frustration for me is that they had one meaningful shot on target and scored.”