Nottingham Forest 3-0 Preston North End (EFL Championship) 06.11.21
Lewis Grabban scored twice, his fiftieth and 51st Forest goals and Jack Colback scored a cracker to help Nottingham Forest to a convincing win over Preston North End.
Full of confidence after beating top of the table Bournemouth in midweek, Preston started well against Forest who began to adjust to a new formation under Steve Cooper with defender Toby Figueiredo dropping down to the bench with the Reds shaping up in a 4-2-3-1 style.
The Reds however were up for the challenge set in front of a packed home City Ground crowd and an early Zinckernagel shot deflected wide, was the best of the opening exchanges before a foul on Brennan Johnson inside the box by Ben Whiteman gave Lewis Grabban the chance to dispatch a penalty straight down the middle for his fiftieth Forest goal on 32 minutes.
Jack Colback then doubled the home teams’ advantage five minutes before half time, the dangerous Zinckernagel crossing a free kick into the box which was partially cleared to the Ginger Pirlo who struck first time left footed from just inside the area and on the volley into the back of the net.
Brad Potts then had a brilliant chance to halve the deficit on the stroke of half-time, the Lillywhites striker squandering the opportunity by blazing over from inside the box.
Forest sat off in the second half as the away side enjoyed more possession with a Whiteman shot on 66 well blocked by a Reds defender before substitute Scott Sinclair raced into the box to the same effect, stopped by a reslient Red back four, and then Forest themselves rounded things off with their first attempt of the second period, Brennan Johnson running into the box with the ball eventually bobbling to Grabban who grabbed his second on the day and eighth of the season to put the match beyond any doubt.
Djed Spence went close late on to a fourth when his long range effort was saved low by Iversen, then Max Lowe wasted a good opportunity with a shot blocked for a corner but it was a complete Forest performance, belonging to Lewis Grabban who became the first player this century to hit fifty Forest goals, to Jack Colback for a stunning effort and to the backline for a deserved clean sheet.
Nottingham Forest: Samba, Spence, Worrall, McKenna, Lowe, Yates, Colback, Johnson, Zinckernagel (Garner 68), Mighten (Lolley 63), Grabban (Taylor 70).
Preston North End: Iversen, van den Bergh, Bauer (Storey 20), Hughes, Barkhuizen, McCann, Whiteman, Earl (Cunningham 57), Johnson, Riis, Potts (Sinclair 57).
Venue: City Ground (27,129)
*Main image @NFFC Lewis Grabban scores his first of two goals from the spot.
