Nottingham Forest vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The City Ground.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at the City Ground
Sunday 28 June 2020 17:17, UK
Lewis Grabban scored twice as Nottingham Forest bolstered their position in the Sky Bet Championship play-off places with a 3-1 over Huddersfield on Sunday.
Grabban struck either side of the break and Ryan Yates grabbed a late third at the City Ground to lift Forest up to fourth in the table - now seven points clear of Preston in seventh, and also seven behind West Brom in second.
For Huddersfield, though, it was a second damaging defeat in a row since the restart, leaving them in 22nd place in the relegation zone on goal difference. They also lost Juninho Bacuna late on to a straight red card, before grabbing a last-minute consolation thanks to Karlan Grant's penalty.
Forest have struggled at times to score at home this season, but nearly broke through after just four minutes on Sunday. Joe Lolley was the creator as he darted down the right and crossed for Sammy Ameobi, but his effort rattled the post and then flew across the line as it bounced clear.
They did, however, take the lead on 43 minutes thanks to a lovely strike from Grabban. Forest recycled a corner and Joe Worrall crossed superbly for the striker, who peeled away from his marker at the far post to volley home.
Within a minute of the restart and that lead was doubled. It was all too easy for Ameobi to play Grabban in behind, who raced into the box and beat the onrushing Jonas Lossl with ease.
Huddersfield had chances to get back into the game. Shortly after falling two behind Andy King's header hit the crossbar from a corner, while in the 62nd minute Grant forced Brice Samba into a fine stop from an angle after being played in by substitute Emile Smith Rowe.
There was time, however, for Forest to grab a third in the 85th minute as substitute Yates latched onto a Lolley corner, turning it home with his studs at the near post to seal a fine win.
It went from bad to worse for Huddersfield as substitute Bacuna saw red for a poor challenge on Nuno Da Costa in the 89th minute. They did, however, manage a late goal as Worrall was deemed to have fouled Fraizer Campbell in the box in the seventh minute of stoppage-time, and Grant stepped up to slot home.
Grabban doesn't always get a huge amount of chances in this Forest side, but he took them both with aplomb on Sunday. He struck his 18th goal of the season with just his seventh touch of the game on 43 minutes, and effectively killed the tie with his second right after the restart. Without him Forest would be nowhere near the top six.
Nottingham Forest's Sabri Lamouchi: "I'm happy with the three points. It was a really important game for the rest of the season. Of course the way we play sometimes is enough and sometimes is not, but I'm disappointed at the end [to lose the clean sheet]. But it wasn't always easy and it was a good result.
"Lewis is our key player and striker. He works a lot for the team so well done to him, but also well done for the boys."
Huddersfield's Danny Cowley: "Goals always change games and we felt we were in a good place in a game [before the opener]. The second goal is so soft from our point of view. In that moment we lost the ball from the throw-in then our defensive line was all over the place.
"While there was a lot of good in our performance we ultimately had a soft underbelly, and when you have that and concede soft goals you're going to find it hard to win games.
"In 13 years of football management it's the first time I've lost three games on the trot, so it's a hard one for me to take and for the group to take. We're down but we're not out, and we'll get ourselves back up and dust ourselves off to fight again, because over my dead body am I getting relegated."
Both sides are back in Championship action at 6pm on Wednesday night. Huddersfield head to Birmingham, while Nottingham Forest host Bristol City.
