Nottingham Forest 0-1 Swansea: Connor Roberts sends Swans fourth in the Championship

Report as Swansea move up to fourth in the Championship thanks to a 1-0 win at struggling Nottingham Forest, with Connor Roberts the match-winner at the City Ground

Richard Morgan

Football journalist @Richiereds1976

Sunday 29 November 2020 16:41, UK

Connor Roberts scored the only goal of the game as Swansea moved up to fourth in the Championship with a 1-0 win at struggling Nottingham Forest on Sunday lunch time.

Roberts rose highest to somehow outjump Sammy Ameobi at the far post and head home his side's winner two minutes before half-time.

As a result, Steve Cooper's team have jumped up to fourth place in the Championship table, while Forest stay in trouble in 21st after a third straight loss.

How Swansea moved up to fourth

The Swans arrived at the City Ground looking to move into the play-off places and that is exactly what the visitors did thanks to a convincing display, despite the slender final scoreline.

It was a bitty, disjointed contest with few moments of genuine quality and one in which Chris Hughton's team really needed to strike first, which they very nearly did.

However, after a lovely move involving Ameobi and Miguel Guerrero, Anthony Knockaert could not provide the finish, instead shooting straight at Freddie Woodman having done all the hard work.

Thereafter, the hosts barely looked like troubling Woodman and it was the Swans who took control, opening the scoring just before the break in unlikely circumstances.

The returning Andre Ayew kept the play alive by helping on a cross from the left, which Forest defender Scott McKenna could only head up, rather than away, allowing Roberts to somehow rise higher than Ameobi at the far post to power home a header.

The Wales international - who registered his first away goal since March 2019 in the process - took a whack for his troubles, but it was his bravery that ultimately proved the difference between the sides.

Forest huffed and puffed after the break, without threatening though, with the Swans seeing out the game with comfort to maintain their recent good form, while for Hughton it is back to the drawing board after this latest loss.

What the managers said...

Forest's Chris Hughton: "It was a certainly game we should not have lost given how much possession we had, but there are aspects of the game i'm happy with, the amount of possession we had, the amount of ball we had in the final third around their box. But it is a similar story to how we've been of late.

"The players are working hard enough, but we've got to make better decisions and maybe get that extra body into the box and show some quality when we do get in good areas. We're also putting pressure on ourselves by conceding poor goals."

Swansea's Steve Cooper: "I thought we were good for it (the win), no doubt about that. I said before the game that this was going to be a really tough one. If you look at Forest's squad, they are as strong as anybody, truth be told, and on their day they are going to be more than a match for any game.

"So we respected that and focused on ourselves like we normally do and I thought we were excellent, we looked the more threatening throughout the game.

"Connor epitomised our performance today. We had our wing-back in the opposition box leaping over their 6ft 4in player, who is a really good player, and banging his head to get us a goal.

"He's done that before and will do it for us again, even though he's got a black eye from it.

"He has been excellent since we came back from lockdown and his challenge now is to just keep it going because he won't want to look back at the end of the season and say 'I had a great start to the season, but then it was a bit up and down', but I don't think that will happen with him."

Man of the Match - Andre Ayew

Swansea boss Steve Cooper brought Ayew back into the side to lead the visitors' attack at the City Ground, and it proved to be the right call.

The experienced Ghana international was a handful for the Forest defence all afternoon and it was his flick on that ultimately led to the winning goal just before the break.

And you feel the forward, 30, will have a key role to play if the Swans are to keep up their good start to the campaign and push for promotion this season.

What's next?

Forest host Watford on Wednesday (7.45pm), while Swansea travel to Middlesbrough on the dame night (7pm), with both games live on the red button on Sky Sports Football.