Ivan Toney enjoys dream Brentford return: ‘I manifested this’

Ivan Toney has spent the last eight months imagining a moment like this.

It took him just 19 minutes to make this vision a reality.

In his first match back from an eight-month ban, Toney scored from a free-kick to help Brentford beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 on Saturday and end a run of five consecutive Premier League defeats.

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“It means a lot. It will take time,” Toney said of his goal. “I manifested this [during] the time when I was away, and I am here now. I'm just excited to be back, scoring goals and playing for the team.

“I manifest things like that. And before I left my house, I said to myself: 'Yes, we win today and I score.' And I managed to get there, so that’s good.”

Toney ran straight to manager Thomas Frank for a hug after the Dane repeatedly spoke out in support of the England striker after he received his lengthy ban for breaching betting rules.

Frank even gave Toney the captain's armband for this match, indicating how important his return is to the west London club. Toney led his team with 20 goals in 33 league appearances last season before being handed a suspension in May.

“He’s a man for special occasions,” Frank said of Toney’s performance. “He is. He doesn't feel the pressure.”

There was, however, an element of controversy surrounding his goal, as Toney moved the ball half a yard to the left of where the referee had indicated, to create the space needed to bend his free kick around the wall and inside the first post.

“It is a movement of the ball so VAR should intervene,” said forestry director Nuno Espirito Santo.

But there were many other highlights during an eventful match at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Forest midfielder Danilo put the visitors ahead in the third minute with a spectacular long-range volley, and the teams then combined for three goals in 10 minutes in the second half.

Ben Mee made it 2-1 with a header from a corner in the 58th, before Chris Wood equalized for Forest with another header from a Callum Hudson-Odoi cross in the 65th. Forest's Orel Mangala then missed a chance to give his side the lead when he shot wide just two minutes later, before Brentford went down and scored the winner at the other end.

Toney played the ball to Mads Roerslev who spotted Neal Maupay in the box, and the striker spun before volleying a left-footed shot inside the far post.

It secured a well-deserved victory for Thomas Frank's side, who had been dragged into relegation after a run of five consecutive league defeats, but climbed above Forest and Crystal Palace into 14th place.

With Toney returning, any thoughts of relegation for Brentford could soon be a thing of the past.

“I’m grateful to be back playing with the guys, I missed it so much,” Toney said. “Yeah, I'm back. I'm back.”