Coventry City 1-2 Nottingham Forest (EFL Championship) 02.02.21

A huge three points for Nottingham Forest on the road this evening as the Reds came from behind to win in Birmingham against Coventry City, to do the double on the Sky Blues and pull themselves four points clear of the relegation zone after Rotherham’s match with Derby was called off although Sheffield Wednesday who were previously below the Millers, did manage to win at Bournemouth to leave things mighty tight towards the foot of the table in the race for Championship survival.

Forest now nineteenth and with bottom side Wycombe Wanderers next up at the weekend, went behind after just 17 minutes at St Andrews when Maxime Biamou cut in to fire home but Chris Hughton’s men were quick to respond when Lewis Grabban netted his third of the campaign on 22 minutes after good work by Ameobi who pulled back in assistance.

In a good half for Forest they tested  their hosts from several set plays with the lively James Garner looking good on debut.

In the second half, Brice Samba saved well from Gustavo Hamer on 52 minutes before the Reds went down the other end two minutes later, as Christie crossed his teasing centre was erratically finished into his own net by Michael Rose who fortuitously for Forest turned the ball past Marosi.

On 60 minutes Grabban himself turned from goalscorer in the first half to goal saver in the second, clearing off the line from a corner the best chance the home side would create before an opportunity for Hamer on 77 saw his shot lashed over. The Reds up until them comfortbale with everything Mark Robins’ side threw at them.

There was another debut for a new Forest player as Glenn Murray replaced Grabban for the final run down of the clock although he played much longer than expected as Forest saw out the game despite 13 minutes of injury time after Coventry’s Bakayoko was injured in a challenge with Samba with the Reds eventually holding onto three points with some heroic defending on show from the likes of Worrall and Figs at centre half.

A fantastic night’s work and a realistic chance now to make it back to back wins at the weekend against bottom of the table Wycombe as the Reds look to continue their surge up the table and away from any danger.

Post match, Manager Hughton stated “I am delighted. It keeps a decent run going for ourselves in the league and we know this is a difficult place to come. Coventry are very good here so overall I am very pleased with the result.”

“We knew it was going to be a big week because of the games we play, we go to Wycombe on Saturday. We knew of their home record here, we went behind and sometimes you have to fight against the elements, which is a very good, well-drilled Coventry team. It was one that we were hanging on to a bit in the last period of the second half and we didn’t keep the ball as well as we needed to, but that shows different qualities in the team which makes it even more pleasing.”

Coventry City: Marosi, Pask (Dacosta 46), Ostigard, Hyam, McCallum, Sheaf (Rose 46), Hamer, James, O’Hare, Biamou, Gyokeres (Bakayoko 71).

Nottingham Forest: Samba, Christie, Figueiredo, Worrall, Bong, Cafu (Colback 71), Garner, Knockaert, Krovinovic (Blackett 84), Ameobi (Freeman 46), Grabban (Murray 76).

Venue: St Andrews

*Main image @NFFC Lewis Grabban scores to level up on the evening.