Nottingham Forest caretaker manager Rob Kelly believed Bristol City’s opening goal came as a sucker punch in this afternoon’s 2-0 defeat at Ashton Gate.

Steven Davies’ deflected opener came moments after Billy Sharp had been denied by a combination of goalkeeper Tom Heaton and his post.

And Marvin Elliott rose highest from a partially-cleared corner to condemn The Reds to defeat in the West Country.

Kelly said: “The performance was good in spells and we created more opportunities than they did, but the bottom line is we lost 2-0.

“I thought we started well and they didn’t really look like scoring. The goal changed the game - we tried to get forward players on the pitch to try and affect it but they were well-organised, compact and sat very deep.

“We won’t sulk - we’ll dust ourselves down and look forward to working with a new manager on Monday. I’m sure he’ll have an impact.

“There is obviously something missing and I’m sure Billy Davies will be able to pinpoint what that is.”