Nottingham Forest beat 10-man West Brom 4-0 at the City Ground to get their play-off push back on track – and put a dent in the top-six ambitions of Steve Bruce’s side.
A Brennan Johnson penalty, a Ryan Yates header and a spectacular strike from Jack Colback put Steve Cooper’s side three goals up before the interval, and Sam Surridge added the fourth in the third minute of injury time in the second half to help secure a sixth straight home victory in the Championship.
It was needed for Forest, who stuttered slightly with a 1-0 defeat at play-off rivals Luton on Friday.
West Brom played the majority of the game with 10 men after seeing Darnell Furlong sent off in the 17th minute, as he collected his second booking of the game for handball while conceding the penalty from which Johnson opened the scoring, with his 16th goal of the season.
Forest striker Surridge, making his first Championship start for the club, almost had a sight of goal in the first minute, but could not get his shot away.
Johnson’s dangerous low cross was well held by David Button, before James Garner sent a dipping shot narrowly over.
The match turned in the 17th minute when Furlong – who had been booked three minutes earlier for a foul on Philip Zinckernagel – blocked a shot from Garner with his hand. Referee David Webb pointed to the spot and then showed a second yellow and then a red card to the defender.
It took two minutes before Johnson was able to take the penalty, which he duly slotted into the bottom corner.
It quickly got worse for the 10-man visitors, as Forest doubled their lead within four minutes. Garner’s delivery from a corner was precise and Yates’ towering header was powerful – although the West Brom bench were furious as they felt that it should not have been a corner in the first place, after Zinckernagel had prodded wide.
West Brom made a change as Taylor Gardner-Hickman replaced Karlan Grant in the 29th minute – and the sub found himself in trouble with referee Webb after whacking the ball into the crowd long after play had halted, earning a yellow card.
When Johnson played the ball back to Colback following a throw-in, Colback absolutely lashed the ball across goal and into the far corner, from wide on the left. It looked like an attempted cross – but it was undeniably spectacular, as Forest made it 3-0 in the second minute of first-half injury time.
With West Brom intent on damage limitation, Forest found opportunities harder to come by after the break. Yates came close with a powerful shot that dipped wide. Zinckernagel had a similar effort of his own.
Colback might have had a second when the goal opened up in front of him, following a nice move – but he unselfishly tried to feed Surridge. Deep into added time, Zinckernagel set up Surridge, who finished emphatically to make it 4-0.
