Soccer-Lampard rues goal-shy Everton’s finishing in Forest draw

Everton manager Frank Lampard was again left frustrated with his side’s inability to put the ball in the back of the net as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Nottingham Forest on Saturday, despite creating 19 goal-scoring opportunities. After losing their opening two games of the Premier League season, Lampard’s men had to come form a goal down, with Demarai Gray getting the equaliser in the 88th minute.

“The number of chances and opportunities that we had, you’re not going to win football matches unless you take them,” Lampard said in a post-match interview. “That’s just a consequence of the performance today, that we don’t quite get what we deserved and for sure, in the first three games, we could have more points, but we have to take that on the chin at the moment and keep working.”

Everton created 15 chances and got four of them on target in their defeats by Chelsea and West Ham, and though Lampard was pleased to see his side grab their first point of the season, he is troubled by their issues in front of goal. “Unfortunately if you’re not taking chances, and we’ve felt that in the first few games now, it’s hard to build that real confidence and control of the game,” he said.

Forest boss Steve Cooper thought that his side should have taken all three points after Brennan Johnson put them in the lead in the 81st minute. “It’s a very quiet, disappointed dressing room. We’ve played well enough to win, certainly in the second half. To go 1-0 up then concede like we did is disappointing” he told the BBC.

“But there are loads of positives and I won’t be narrow-minded to forget those. It’s our first point on the road in the Premier League and a greatly improved performance from when we played Newcastle, so we’ll definitely take belief from that.”

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