Lester adds a final twist to the week of pain

Nottingham Forest 2 Leicester City

Time is what Leicester are urgently seeking to restore their financial fortunes following the descent into administration, but it was a factor they could have well done without at the City ground. With seconds left of the five minutes added to the second half, Forest substitute Jack Lester climbed high to head the equaliser his club had merited fromassured, elegant play.

Leicester had done admirably for most of the match, showing the club could at least continue to battle on the field of play but at the last they were undone by a tendency to indulge in time-wasting. Paul Dickov and Brian Deane, the first half scorers, were inclined to go to ground all too readily and too easily, to the indignation of the home supporters.

So it was justice when referee Paul Taylor decreed a large chunk of overtime, and it was also justice, in the opinion of Forest manager, Paul Hart, that they were punished for it.

"We were probably unlucky not to have won," he claimed. "We scored after 95 minutes and if it had gone to 105 minutes that would probably have been right because of the time-wasting employed. At times we were slightly naïve but there was one man on the field more naïve than they were," he added, in a pointed reference to the referee.

Still, Leicester came so close to the result which would have provided a wonderful restorative. "I feel a bit flat," manager Micky Adams admitted afterwards. "After the events of the past week I'm not sure what is more devastating, going into administration, with all that entails, or conceding that second goal.

"We were determined to try and get the feel-good factor back into the club and we failed. We wanted to get a win today for all those people at Leicester who have lost their jobs. It has been a bad week."

Hart was sympathetic, having endured similar problems with Forest. "We don't have to sell players at the moment," he revealed, "but for Leicester it is not very pleasant. I feel sorry for people at Leicester who have lost their jobs, people who have done nothing wrong except work very hard.

"Our position is slightly different. We actively released players from this club, gave them away for peanuts and reduced our debts accordingly.

"What we did last year was totally underestimated by everybody in football. To remain competitive and to reduce our squad to that extent is, in my opinion, a huge feat."

One who might have joined the firesale exodus, David Johnson, returned to the club after loan spells last season and has justified the £3 million spent on him by Hart's predecessor, David Platt. Johnson has hit 16 goals in all, 14 in the First Division, and is the League's top scorer, his 16th coming with a quarter of an hour left.

Forest, pepped by the introduction of Lester just after the hour, started to find gaps in a defence which had been so professionally marshalled by Matt Elliott.

Lester threaded a fine ball forward and Johnson, so adept at spinning away from tackles, got clear of everything except Frank Sinclair's outstretched boot. The penalty award was a formality and Johnson himself struck it hard to Ian Walker's left.

It was Walker's susceptibility to the high cross which eventually cost Leicester. He had already failed to snaffle one free kick from Riccardo Scimeca, seeing the ball booted off the line, but when Jim Brennan lofted another one towards the far post Walker missed it completely and Lester joyfully headed into the untenanted net.

Leicester's first half goals were, complained Hart, the consequence of poor defending, but they were well enough taken. First, Deane buried a cross from Callum Davidson and then, when an Andrew Impey corner was deflected to him, Dickov executed a low-level bicycle kick into the far wall of the net.

Forest's supporters were angered by Leicester's bid to close down the second half, but it was, as Hart said, "not acceptable" for objects to be hurled at Alan Rogers as he prepared to take a free kick. He was, after all, one of those players Forest got rid of for peanuts last year to help them stay afloat.

Nottingham Forest 2
Johnson pen 76, Lester 90

Leicester City 2
Deane 23, Dickov 41

Half-time: 0-2 Attendance: 29,497