Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Coventry City

[dutchman]

Battling Sky Blues lack cutting edge



A scrappy first half goal from Brennan Johnson put Nottingham Forest on course for the full three points against a battling Coventry City side at the City Ground.

The Sky Blues took the game to their Midland rivals but found themselves a goal down against the run of play in an opening 45 minutes full of confidence and endeavour but lacking a clinical touch in front of goal.

And despite a determined push for an equaliser after the break, James Garner doubled the home side’s lead to consign City to defeat.

Mark Robins made two changes to his side, one forced due to the unavailability of talismanic striker Matty Godden who, we can only presume, was either ill or injured.

The other change saw Todd Kane return to the starting line-up at right wing-back with Fankaty Dabo, interestingly, switched across to the left-hand berth where he was preferred to Ian Maatsen, who dropped to the bench – the manager presumably banking of Dabo doing a better job against Forest's formidable threat down the right than the Chelsea loan man.

Elsewhere, the manager brought in Ben Sheaf to shore up the midfield, while Jamie Allen provided extra legs in midfield, initially deployed at the top of a box alongside Callum O’Hare, and behind lone striker Viktor Gyokeres who led the line.

The home side, not surprisingly, enjoyed plenty of the ball, looking to spread it wide and feed the front men but City started the game full of confidence, playing on the front foot and trying to take the game to the home side with some early forays on goal. Gus Hamer slipped the ball to Viktor Gyokeres in the box and the big striker took a touch before dragging his shot disappointingly wide of the far post in the fifth minute.

Callum O’Hare tested Brice Samba for the first time shortly after with a long-range shot as Coventry continued to look the more enterprising, stringing some lovely passes together in and around the opposition box to make the home crowd restless and begin to grumble.

City were right up for the contest and continued to battle and fight for every ball but it was Forest who took the lead, completely against the run of play, when Jack Colback was played in behind by Keinan Davis and put a threatening ball across the face of goal. Jake Bidwell stopped it on the line at the foot of the far post but lost his balance and fell over, enabling Brennan Johnson to steal in and lift it into the back of the net with 25 minutes on the clock.

The goal came as a real blow to the Sky Blues whose only fault was not having a clinical touch in front of goal as O’Hare attempted to lift a loose ball over the keeper’s head, but sent it well over the bar, while Allen failed to squeeze a decent shot past Samba.

Forest had three corners in the space of six minutes just after the half hour mark but the visitors managed to weather the setpieces as the home side finished the half looking the stronger of the two sides – the goal having given them a clear lift.

And they almost doubled their advantage when Michael Rose hit a poor pass straight to a red shift, sparking some frantic defending from his teammates to tidy up the error.

The Sky Blues started the second half as they had the first, with plenty of attacking endeavour that resulted in a decent spell of pressure and a thunderous shot from distance from Ben Sheaf that forced Samba into a decent save. O’Hare played Gyokeres into the box minutes later but despite wriggling into space, the Swede hit his shot high over the bar.

But City’s efforts were all in vain as Forest picked them off a second time just after the hour, this time James Garner being slipped through by Davis on the overlap to the left of goal from where he smashed it past Simon Moore into the roof of the net.

Robins made a double change, sending on Ian Maatsen and Fabio Tavares for Sheaf and Kane, but Forest made changes of their own and saw the game out comfortably in the end.

[dutchman]

Forest move up to fifth with success over Coventry



Nottingham Forest kept their Championship play-off bid on course with victory against Coventry City.

Goals from Brennan Johnson, his 15th of the season, and James Garner secured the win at the City Ground.

A third successive success moves Forest up to fifth in the table with eight matches remaining, and Steve Cooper's side have two games in hand on most of their rivals.

Defeat for the Sky Blues, who drop to 12th, all but ends their promotion hopes as they are now eight points below the play-offs with six games left.

Coventry, though, more than matched their opponents and Callum O'Hare had a chance to bring them back into the game with 15 minutes left, but he could not beat Brice Samba when played through by Gustavo Hamer.

Another chance, at 1-0, saw O'Hare put through Viktor Gyokeres but the Swede fired over.

Defeat means the Sky Blues have now taken only six points from their past eight games.

Forest's form has been of total contrast and they enter the final month of the season having not lost in the league since the end of January.

Both their goals were smartly worked, first as Jack Colback crossed from the left in the 25th minute and Johnson finished cleverly, steering the ball around both goalkeeper and post.

Keinan Davis jinked into space in the 61st minute and slid a ball into the area for Garner to smash home left-footed.

Play was stopped briefly for a home supporter who was taken ill, but it did not throw Forest off their stride, with Ryan Yates hitting the bar in stoppage time.

Coventry City manager Mark Robins told BBC CWR:

"I thought we played really well but we just didn't have that final touch, which we've said quite often.

"Forest are a really good side. They put you under pressure and if you don't take your chances, you can't put them under pressure, they can take a deep breath and go again.

"The atmosphere was brilliant, it was an enjoyable game for all the right reasons, obviously other than we didn't take our chances."