“I’m just lost for words. It’s devastating and I feel sorry for our fans”- Morgan Gibbs-White issues apology and maps out Nottingham Forest intentions
Morgan Gibbs-White, the Nottingham Forest captain, has urged his teammates to focus on securing Champions League football after their FA Cup heartbreak
Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White issued an apology following the Reds’ disappointing 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday evening.
Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol scored in either half to break Forest hearts on an afternoon when Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were slow out of the blocks, but responded accordingly in the second half – but they failed to force the ball over the line.
Winger Anthony Elanga, who many might’ve expected to have started the game, was introduced for Danilo at half time and he passed up a significant opportunity with his very first touch, seconds into the second period. Gibbs-White also hit the frame of the goal twice, while Taiwo Awoniyi hit the post too.
Gibbs-White was apologetic to the supporters, whose numbers dwarfed that of their City counterparts inside the stadium, after admitting he’d have backed himself to have converted at least one of his chances and might’ve forced Forest back into the game. Now, though, he has laid down the challenge to his teammates to secure Champions League football.
“It’s devastating,” Gibbs-White told ITV. “I feel sorry for the fans. I hold my hands up and apologise – I should’ve scored at least one of them. I think as a team we didn’t start well, what we were hoping to do. In the second half we came out fighting and we gave it everything, and the support never stopped until the last second.
“We thank them a lot for that, they’ve been consistent throughout the season. I’m just lost for words. We gave everything. It’s sad to go out like that, but we keep going and we still have the Premier League to focus on.
“When the first one hit the cross-bar, I had a feeling it wasn’t our day. The second one, I round the keeper, it’s a tight angle but I think I should score and that then would’ve given us energy, everyone in the stadium energy to go again. The boys kept fighting, we showed resilience, we can take that away.
“If we get one, I feel like we’d have got another one. It was just the flow of the game in that moment. We had a few good chances we could’ve scored from but all I can put it down to is that it just wasn’t our day. We had a gameplan everyone believed in. I thought we executed it well in the first half, apart from their goal.
“Anthony is a massive threat for us, and he showed that in the second half. We have to put it behind us now. We enjoyed it while it lasted, but now we have to focus on getting into the Champions League. We have five big finals – we’ll give it everything and hope for the best.”
