There was a moment early in the second half when Morgan Gibbs-White, asked to move left from his favoured No 10 position as Nottingham Forest reshaped at half-time in a bid to get back into a game Burnley were winning, mistimed his swivelled shot so badly, with a clear sight of goal, that the ball looped harmlessly behind, like a balloon at a child’s party.
“You’re going down with the Burnley,” sang the travelling fans gleefully in the Bridgford Stand, as they treasured the rare lead Zian Flemming had given them in first-half stoppage time.
Forest’s team captain is made of sterner stuff, however. He has not enjoyed his best season, after last year’s high points with the club catapulted him into the England squad, but the next time chances fell his way, as he came in from the left, he dispatched both clinically and stylishly: one from James Ward-Prowse’s inadvertent back header, the second from Omari Hutchinson’s right-wing cross.
And when he handed the armband over to the substitute Ryan Yates, the club captain returned the favour, crossing superbly for Gibbs-White to head in and complete his 15-minute hat-trick. It was a first treble in senior football for the man who also scored the goal on Thursday, against Porto, to seal Forest’s place in the Europa League semi-finals. No Englishman has scored more than his 12 Premier League goals this season.
