After West Ham’s victory yesterday, pressure was cranked up on Forest here, but they certainly rose to it in the opening stages. Sean Dyche’s men started on the offensive and reaped the rewards of a fine start when cup specialist Igor Jesus endeared himself to the PL.
Jesus only had one top-flight goal to his name this term, but he doubled that tally inside the opening 15 minutes when he plucked the ball out of the sky inside the area and arrowed into the far corner on the swivel.
The Tricky Trees were unwilling to rest on their laurels and almost doubled their advantage soon after when Ibrahim Sangaré caressed an effort inches wide of the target.
Keith Andrews’ men were forced into a double change in the first half when both Mikkel Damsgaard and Kristoffer Ajer were struck down by injuries. Dango Ouattara was brought on in place of the Dane, and he almost made an immediate impact when he burst in behind and saw an effort repelled by the legs of Matz Sels.
The Forest stopper was powerless when Michael Kayode hurled a long throw into the area on the stroke of HT though, when to his relief, substitute Sepp van den Berg saw his header brush the side netting.
Brentford certainly didn’t come out for the second half playing like a side who looked likely to get back on level terms, nor one who were unbeaten at home in the league since October.
The game had gone stale after HT and it looked to be slipping away from the Bees, and it took them until the 75th minute to manufacture a meaningful sighting of goal, and even when they did, their key man Igor Thiago poked an effort well over the bar at the far post.
The hosts’ lack of cutting edge was punished in brutal fashion 10 minutes from time too, when Forest sprung a lightning-quick counter attack and substitute Taiwo Awoniyi slotted an effort beneath Caoimhin Kelleher to register his first Forest goal in a year.
Withdrawing Callum Hudson-Odoi for Morato in the last five minutes was a sure-fire sign that Dyche knew his side’s work for the day was done and he was happy to shut up shop, a decision perhaps fast-tracked by Ouattara’s glaring miss from six yards just moments prior.
Victory helped Forest reestablish their five-point cushion to the bottom three and stretch their unbeaten league run to three matches. It’s a much different story for Brentford though, who have now lost successive PL games as their momentum starts to wane.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ibrahim Sangaré (Nottingham Forest)