Nuno Espirito Santo admitted keeping Nottingham Forest in the Premier League has driven him to drink.
There was an undeniable irony to Forest receiving a helping hand from VAR at precisely the point in the campaign when it doesn’t really matter.
Those purveyors of the persecution complex have been the fiercest critics of football’s beleaguered video officials this season, so perhaps Stockley Park saw the funny side of riding to the rescue of their navel-gazing nemesis in what due to Luton’s defeat became a dead rubber where the visitors could have lost by a cricket score and still secured a third consecutive season of top flight football.
The thank you card from the City Ground is likely to get lost in the post, in stark contrast to the massively misguided missive fired-off after last month’s defeat at Everton, a blinkered public tantrum that swiftly installed Forest as exactly the opposite of everyone’s second favourite team.
Despite a four-point deduction for financial irregularities, Forest finished six points clear of the drop with a modest haul of 32. Espirito Santo led a successful rearguard action after replacing Steve Cooper just before Christmas, and he admitted: ‘It’s been a tough season and it’s good to finish on a high. Now we all have a chance to enjoy this result, I’m going to give myself a day off and take two or three beers.
‘It’s the first time as a coaching staff that we’ve joined a club in the middle of the season so it’s a new experience and it’s not been easy so to keep our Premier League status is very pleasing.’
Chris Wood had already been the beneficiary of some benign Burnley defending as the New Zealander broke the deadlock with a far post tap-in after just 72 seconds.
His celebrations at doubling the advantage inside the opening quarter of an hour with his 14th league goal of the campaign were cut short by an assistant’s flag for offside, and it seemed a formality the decision would be confirmed by the routine VAR check.
To the surprise of just about everyone inside Turf Moor, the decision was overturned with Wood’s toenail ruled marginally onside as he redirected a Ryan Yates shot past Arijanet Muric. Forest’s official X account remained silent in its praise for technology.
Already relegated Burnley were very much in holiday mode as they prepare for life in the Championship next season. They bounced straight back into the top flight under Vincent Kompany last year, but will have to improve on this listless display to cope with the unrelenting slog of a 46-game second-tier campaign.
They only began to pose a threat after going two goals down and belatedly pulled one back through Josh Cullen’s deflected effort from outside the area with 18 minutes remaining.
Kompany said: ‘We were punished for two loose moments but we kept fighting and gave ourselves a chance to get the result in the end. If Nuno is having three beers I’ll just have one because there’s a lot of work ahead of us to be ready for next season.’
