Reality check for Nottingham Forest as they fall to impressive Middlesbrough

Rapidly improving Middlesbrough brushed aside in-form Nottingham Forest as the Boro move into the play-off places and continue their resurgence under new manager Chris Wilder.

Andraz Sporar’s clinical second-half finish followed up a disastrous own goal from Ryan Yates to secure a brilliant win for the jubilant Middlesbrough supporters.

Forest, who had been unbeaten in nine games, were a shadow of themselves as Chris Wilder’s men flew out of the traps.

With Onel Hernandez in a bullish mood upfront, Boro got into good wide positions throughout, leaving the Reds’ back three overran. With makeshift defender Jack Colback trying to stem the flow on the left and teenager Finn Back deployed on the right, Forest could not cope with the hosts’ energy or press to win the ball back higher up the pitch.

Boro had already been well on top during the opening 17 minutes before they took the lead through an unlikely source. As Brice Samba rolled the ball out to the receiving Ryan Yates on the edge of the Forest box, the hosts quickly put the young midfielder under pressure.

Inexplicably, Yates failed to look up and he passed an overhit ball back past the hapless Samba to gift Middlesbrough the lead.

The hosts were not finished there and peppered the Forest goal throughout the first half with Samba making some excellent stops to keep the score at 1-0.

Isaiah Jones almost grabbed a second before the break but his back post connection from Neil Taylor’s deep cross came back off the upright.

With Boro loanee Djed Spence ineligible to play against his parent club and Forest struggling with other injuries in the wing-back positions, the Reds were hamstrung as an attacking force.

Carving out just one attack in a forgettable first half, Phillip Zinckeragel’s touch let him down at the vital moment following some excellent probing from Lewis Grabban.

Reverting to a flat back four to contain Boro’s onslaught, some better football started to get Forest higher up the pitch.

A piece of brilliance from Brennan Johnson should have brought Forest level. The forward skipped past Paddy McNair as he drove towards the byline and cut the ball back to Zinckernagel who blazed his shot over the bar from just six yards out.

It was not the Watford loanee’s afternoon. Having gotten things badly wrong when Forest needed him to deliver the most, the second miss saw him instantly hauled off by manager Steve Cooper.

Joe Worrall narrowly headed over the Boro bar following good work by Johnson again but there was a sense of inevitably unfolding as the hosts regrouped.

Following some good approach work from Matt Crooks, Samba could only claw the ball into Sporar’s path who rifled home from close range to give Boro their killer second goal.

“They’ve not been given their run – one defeat in 16 – they’ve turned over some decent sides and have a lot of good players but I was delighted, especially in the first half. To get a result and a performance was great for everybody. I’ve been here when it’s been full, watching, but never been involved at the coal face. It was fabulous. It was electric.” – Chris Wilder, Middlesbrough manager

Forest boss Cooper held his hands up that his side were well below-par, but despite not being at their best and going into the break a goal down, he was disappointed that his side could not capitalise as they built momentum in the second period. However, the Reds manager remained philosophical and fully aware of what’s needed to bounce back.

“It’s always about how you react after any game. We’ve had some good wins recently and I’ve always said to the players, it’s about how you react to that – about not getting complacent.

“This is about not getting too down. Disappointing? Yes. Fell short? Yes, of course.

“But if you want to be an achieving team in this league, it’s about reacting to everything well. We have to react to a poor result and performance.” – Steve Cooper, Nottingham Forest manager

With a home fixture against Huddersfield Town up next, Forest will have Djed Spence available again but for how long remains to be seen with Cooper reaffirming that any decision for him to go back to Teeside is in Middlesbrough’s hands.

The form of Boro defender Isaiah Jones might offer some hope for the Reds in their pursuit of making Spence’s move a permanent one to The City Ground in January or at least honouring their season-long loan arrangement.

There is no doubt that the wing-back areas are disrupting Forest’s attacking play and with Max Lowe and Jordi Osei-Tutu out for the foreseeable, it is a conundrum that Cooper will be looking to solve.

Whilst the Reds have made tremendous progress under their new coach, a play-off place will still be on the boardroom agenda despite being bottom of the league when Chris Hughton was relieved of his duties in mid-September.

Having failed to back Sabri Lamouchi in 2020’s January transfer window that contributed to Forest dropping like a stone in that campaign, it remains to be seen if lessons have been learned with the squad looking short on numbers.

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