February 10 2003

Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis was unhappy Nottingham Forest were not reduced to 10-men in their 2-1 win at the City Ground on Saturday evening.

Forest were two-up when defender Michael Dawson, who had already been shown a yellow card, fouled Andy Johnson in the box when through on goal.

Johnson picked himself up to score from the spot, but Francis said: "I think Dawson is a fine young prospect with a big future ahead of him but I would rather have seen him in the bath.

"I rate Graham Poll as the best referee in the country but he didn’t help our cause in not sending the player off. He had already been booked and I couldn’t see whether he was the last defender or not - but he clearly brought Andrew [Johnson] down and I would have thought that was a yellow card offence as well.

"With 15 minutes to go it would have made a lot of difference to us to be playing against ten men in the final stages.

"We put forwards on and certainly caused some panic in their ranks and almost got the equaliser."

Francis added: "It has been a tough week for my squad with away matches against Leicester, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

"It was a real piece of history for us last Wednesday night but our points return over recent weeks has not been good enough.

"My side have committed a lot physically this week but have also had a lot taken out of us mentally. I have not really known a week like it as a Nationwide League club."