Nottingham Forest lifted themselves out of the relegation places with a comfortable 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers.
A brace from Lyle Taylor, with a goal in either half, secured the result. Althought it could have been a much larger margin of vitory had it not been for Chairboys goalkeeper Ryan Allsop.
The former Bournemouth ‘keeper made a number of excellent saves, but it was not enough to inspire last season’s League One play-off victors to take a point.
Boss Chris Hughton made just two changes to the Nottingham Forest that left it late to beat Coventry City 2-1 on Wednesday night, switching to a 4-4-1-1 set-up, and said he was pleased with the end result.
“We had to work hard, defend very well and wait for those good opportunities.
“You can’t underestimate the quality of the opposition and how hard you have to work to get results.
“The only disappointing this is that at 2-0 the game is stretched.
“They were going for it and we had good opportunities to increase that lead.
“The keeper made a great save from Harry Arter and we got in a couple of positions where we might have done better, but overall I’m delighted with our performance.”
The defensive line of Cyrus Christie, Tobias Figueiredo, Scott McKenna and Yuri Ribeiro all kept their places after Wednesday’s win.
Jack Colback, captaining the side, partnered Samba Sow in central midfield, with Sammy Ameobi and Anthony Knockaert on the left and right flanks respectively.
Lyle Taylor led the attacking line for Forest, Spaniard Miguel Guerrero sat just behind his strike partner.
Colback escaped an early yellow card for his involvement in a heavy foul on David Wheeler, but referee Matthew Donohue showed kindness on the Forest midfielder.
The first chance of the afternoon fell to the home side inside ten minutes. A clever turn from Guerrero allowed him to move away from Curtis Thompson. The Spaniard sent a lofted pass to Taylor on the edge of the penalty area, but Taylor shot straight at Ryan Allsop.
Guerrero entered the referee’s book for a foul on Joe Jacobson, but chances continued to fall in Forest’s favour.
First Ameobi arrowed a powerful strike narrowly past the post from a corner, before Guerrero’s neat pull-back to Taylor was intercepted.
The Reds were not made to wait too long, however, as Taylor broke the deadlock on 30 minutes.
Christie, providing a much more inspired performance, delivered a pinpoint cross into the box which Taylor squeezed between Allsop and the post to open the scoring.
The Reds could have had a second when Knockaert’s right-wing freekick travelled towards Ameobi, but the cross had too much weight on it and was held by Allsop.
Wycombe ended the half on top, forcing Forest ‘keeper Brice Samba into a pair of comfortable saves, but were unable to draw level.
Hughton made one change at the break, replacing Sow with Ryan Yates, but the second half started with a much lower tempo.
Wycombe Wanderers, without boss Gareth Ainsworth as he continued to recover from a back operation, made two changes just before the hour-mark – replacing David Wheeler and Scott Kashket with Adebayo Akinfenwa and Garath McCleary.
Figueiredo made an important clearance on 63 minutes when Jack Grimmer’s cross looked dangerous, but he stepped in to head the ball away from the lingering Akinfenwa.
The large forward came close again, tracking McCleary’s neat delivery, but was unable to keep his header on-target and nodded wide.
But another strike from Taylor wrapped up the three points with 16 minutes to go. Racing clear of the Wycombe defensive line, Taylor burst into the box and lashed beyond Allsop to net his second of the afternoon, and fourth goal of the season.
Hughton made his final change shortly after the goal, replacing Guerrero with Harry Arter, and the chances continued to flow.
First Arter was denied by an excellent save from Allsop in reaction to a powerful close-range effort, before he hammered a shot wide from a tight angle after Knockaert had turned into space in the penalty area.
Akinfenwa had another chance late on for Wycombe, but the Reds held on to register back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
Forest XI: Samba, Christie, Figueiredo, Ribeiro, Colback (C), Ameobi (Lolley, 68), Guerrero (Arter, 76), Sow (Yates, 46), McKenna, Knockaert, Taylor.
Unused Subs: Smith (GK), Mbe Soh, Freeman, Jenkinson.
By Matt Lee
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