Chris Hughton admitted he was not sure his Nottingham Forest side deserved their 2-1 win over Coventry – but urged his players to use it as something to build on.
Lyle Taylor netted from the penalty spot in the sixth minute of added time to secure all three points, after he had been brought down by Kyle McFadzean.
Forest looked to be on course for their fourth 1-1 draw of Hughton’s six-match tenure, after Callum O’Hare’s 57th-minute header had cancelled out a first-half goal from Scott McKenna.
But they claimed victory amid a dramatic finale at the City Ground, in which Taylor had the coolest head in the stadium.
“He kept his composure well. You never like to say that players are good at penalties, because so are goalkeepers at times,” said Hughton.
“But it has been a difficult time for us with regard to getting goals and sometimes you want a break to go your way. I think we deserved something from the game. Whether we deserved a win or not is something different. But we will take it.
“It felt as though, if any side was going to go on and win the game, it would have been Coventry. But just when we thought it was going to end in a draw, we managed to get a goal with the last kick.
“I thought we were good in the first half but my biggest disappointment was that we did not make the most of the possession we had. We did not have enough shots on goal, we did not create enough opportunities or good crosses. Our build-up play was good.
“But we were up against a very well drilled Coventry side who have been together for some time. It was still a good feeling to get that win. Now we just need to take that feeling into the next game, against Wycombe.”
Coventry boss Mark Robins was understandably frustrated, after seeing his side lose a game they could easily have won.
“We would have been disappointed with a point. I thought we were much better in the second half. We hit the post and had numerous chances to finish the game off,” he said.
“Then we shot ourselves in the foot by giving the penalty away, at a point when we had no time to come back.
“If you touch Lyle Taylor he will go down, inside or outside the box. You cannot give him the opportunity to do that.
“McFadzean is saying that he did not touch him but there was clearly a coming together and as soon as he felt contact he was going to go down, which gave the referee a decision to make.
“Then he picks himself up and sticks the ball in the back of the net. We have had bad luck but, having said that, we could have made it easier for ourselves by making more of the chances we created.
“On the upside we have played really well. But to come away with nothing is a real blow.”
