Nottingham Forest 0-0 Bournemouth: Cherries caretaker boss Jonathan Woodgate remains unbeaten
- Published
Bournemouth did not manage an effort on target until injury time, but Junior Stanislas went close in the first half
Bournemouth failed to muster an effort on target until injury time in an uninspiring draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Resurgent Forest, who have now lost just once in 11 matches, edged a dull contest, but also struggled to create chances against a cautious Cherries side who extended their unbeaten run to three games under interim boss Jonathan Woodgate.
Veteran Reds striker Glenn Murray, who scored twice on his full debut in last week's 3-0 win over Wycombe, came closest when his header was cleared off the line after the break.
The best opportunities for Bournemouth both fell to Junior Stanislas, a curling strike that went just wide early on and a shot that was deflected past the post in stoppage time.
But Forest, who move five points clear of the relegation zone before the 15:00 GMT fixtures, provided the bulk of what little goal threat there was, with the quick feet, quick thinking and tricky interplay of Filip Krovinovic, James Garner and Anthony Knockaert the main source.
A couple of smart set-pieces led to decent early chances for both sides, Krovinovic hitting a well-worked free-kick straight at Cherries keeper Asmir Begovic and Stanislas narrowly missing the far corner with a quickly taken corner at the other end.
Cherries midfielder Jack Wilshere showed flashes of the quality that made him an England player before tiring after the interval.
One such moment saw him find Arnaut Danjuma on the left whose cross eluded keeper Brice Samba but was a fraction too high for Shane Long to be able to keep his header under the bar.
Opportunities remained hard to come by in an uneventful second period but the hosts had the better of them.
Reds captain Joe Worrall glanced a header wide from a free-kick, Knockaert smashed a shot over after cutting inside from the right and Murray saw a header cleared by Ben Pearson from an inswinging corner.
Bournemouth, who remain sixth, livened up in the final quarter and avoided ending the match without an effort on target when a fierce Stanislas shot was partially blocked.
Forest manager Chris Hughton:
"We did really well. The best chance we had was through Glenn's header. We got into some really good positions through Anthony Knockaert. His flank was our most productive area. Unfortunately we did not get enough from it.
"As a team we are finding some good momentum. We are certainly starting to see more of what we want from the team.
"There will be games where the opportunities you create are very few, particularly when you are up against the kind of side we were today, this kind of quality of opposition."
Bournemouth interim boss Jonathan Woodgate:
"Forest frustrated us, we could not break them down. You can say that we did not work their keeper enough, but there were a few blocks and things, so statistics like that are not always a true reflection of things.
"The stats can show that you've had four shots on target, but they might all have been efforts that rolled into the keeper's hands.
"We could be better creatively. But I thought we were solid. We just did not manage to produce those moments of magic up the other end of the pitch.
"I will be in charge for the Rotherham game on Wednesday. I am not thinking what will happen beyond that."
Woodgate on Steve Cook, who came off injured after five minutes:
"He has a groin injury. We are not sure how bad it was, but it was not ideal. Lloyd Kelly was very good when he came on and we were pleased to keep a clean sheet after that."
Standing Up To Infertility: Rhod Gilbert with a frank, funny and personally revealing look at the condition
Scarlett Moffatt Wants To Believe: What is the theory behind ghost sightings and does it prove anything?
