NOTTINGHAM Forest boss Chris Hughton claimed the penalty awarded against his side at Cherries had been a “poor decision”.

Cherries sealed a 2-0 victory over the City Ground side thanks to two goals from Junior Stanislas – the second coming from the penalty spot on 51 minutes.

Referee Simon Hooper awarded a spot-kick after Dominic Solanke was brought down by Forest captain Jack Colback – the referee judging the foul took place just inside the area.

But Forest boss Hughton disputed the award of the penalty.

He said: “My opinion is the contact initially was outside the box, which makes it a grey area and if it becomes a grey area as a referee, you cannot give a penalty.

“I think it was a poor decision but I cannot accuse my players of not putting a shift in and not producing a real effort.”

He added: “We showed plenty of endeavour but I do not think we did ourselves any favours.

“You come knowing what a good side they are and how difficult it is going to be so conceding so early puts you on the back foot.

“But I thought we were always in the game. We recovered well from it and at 1-0 it could have gone either way on the balance of play.

“We pushed and could have got back in the game but once they got the second goal, it made it harder still.”