‘I knew this would happen’ says Ivan Toney after goalscoring return to action

Ivan Toney claimed he knew he would score and Brentford would win upon his return from his eight-month exile.

The striker, banned from football since May for breaching betting rules, was back on the scoresheet for the first time in 267 days.

Toney struck with an audacious free-kick to thrust himself back into the spotlight for the right reasons.

“It was a long time coming,” he told Sky Sports. “I manifested this win when I was at home during the time I was out, I am here now and buzzing to be back scoring goals and winning with the team.

“I knew this would happen. I manifest things like this. Before I left my house I thought ‘we’re winning today and I’m scoring’. And I made it happen.”

Danilo volleyed Forest into a third-minute lead before Orel Mangala gave away a free-kick on the edge of the area.

Only one player was going to take it, and just as Toney had when he scored in the corresponding fixture last season – his last goal before the ban – the 27-year-old nonchalantly stroked the free-kick around the wall and inside Matt Turner’s left-hand post.

Forest captain Ryan Yates was furious with Turner for not spotting the gap that Toney found, although no one noticed the England forward subtly rolling the ball a few inches to the right as the keeper was lining up his wall.

“Yeah, I saw the gap,” Toney added. “Sometimes you have a gap either way and I bent the ball around the wall and was happy to see it go in.”

But Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo felt the goal should not have stood.

“Ball displacement, and the law is clear,” he said. “Every goal must be checked. I don’t know if they checked or not.

“The players have to be a little bit mature as well because it changes the position of the ball. It’s a yard almost. But our players