Nottingham Forest 0-1 Blackburn: Rovers boost survival hopes

A Tommie Hoban header was enough to secure a 1-0 win for Blackburn to give them hope of Championship survival - and drag Nottingham Forest right back into the fight against relegation.

Hoban converted powerfully from a corner in the 78th minute to stun Mark Warburton's side, who find themselves back within two points Rovers, who occupy the final spot in the bottom three.

Tony Mowbray's Rovers had not won in seven games - but fought their way to three points that will have them believing they can still beat the drop.

Blackburn made five changes to their side, amid an injury crisis that had robbed them of numerous key players, including striker Danny Graham, keeper Jason Steele and Craig Conway, who failed a fitness test.

Forest were unchanged, as they looked to replicate their win over Huddersfield last weekend, which had edged them closer to Championship safety.

Zach Clough might have given the home side the lead in the fourth minute, following a cut-back from Chris Cohen, but saw his low shot deflected wide of the post. Ben Brereton, Forest's 17-year-old striker, then ghosted between two Blackburn defenders and into the box, but failed to muster any power in his shot.

When Armand Traore fouled Connor Mahoney on the edge of the box, it gave Mahoney the chance to fizz in a curling free-kick that flew just wide of the far post by a narrow margin. A sloppy Blackburn pass sent Jamie Ward charging into
the penalty area, but Elliott Ward recovered to make a vital block.

Forest were finding chances hard to come by, with Eric Lichaj bending a shot high and wide, following a short corner routine. Hope Akpan came close with a glancing header for the visitors.

Forest's Brereton twice threatened in first half injury time, seeing a shot deflected over and a spectacular long range effort miss by a tiny margin.

The Reds brought on Michael Mancienne for Matt Mills at half time and switched from a 3-5-2 to a 4-1-4-1. A Clough free-kick required an acrobatic save from David Raya.

Mancienne sent a header just over the bar and Traore fired a shot wide of the far post, as Forest continued to toil without reward. Another Forest sub, Britt Assombalonga, set up a chance for Clough on the edge of the box, but his effort was wild.

And it was Blackburn who were to take the lead from a corner as Mahoney delivered a superb ball towards the far post, where Hoban was arriving to power a downward header into the back of the net from a few yards.

Raya had to make a truly outstanding stop to keep Forest at bay, as Assombalonga hit a shot on the turn that seemed certain to find the net.

Nottingham Forest boss Mark Warburton:

"We did not do enough to win the game today, it is as simple as that. We started brightly, for 10 minutes or so we looked very good. I thought we were going to pick up from last weekend. But the simple fact is that we were sloppy and we gave the ball away cheaply.

"We never really showed enough quality to deserve to take the three points.It was a scrappy game with very few chances for both teams. We knew they possessed good dead-ball delivery and we lost a man at the corner.
"We did not have enough quality to get the three points. We knew where they were in the league and that it was a huge game for them - and for us."

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray:

"I am not going to get too emotional because one result does not mean very much to us yet. Our target over Easter was to get six points from the two games. We felt that we had to get that, following a bad weekend last weekend, when everyone else around us won.

"We knew this weekend would be a big, big test for us. The first part of it we have managed to get through. But now we have another huge game to get through. If we can get another good result against Bristol, the bottom half of the table would be looking over their shoulders.

"We have given ourselves a fighting chance. It is a fine balance, because you want the players to understand how important this is."