Nottingham Forest 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday: Owls maintain play-off push with win

Sheffield Wednesday maintained their play-off push with a fourth consecutive Sky Bet Championship victory as Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-1 at the City Ground.

This was Wednesday's fifth consecutive win over Forest, who paid the price for missed chances as goals from Almen Abdi and Fernando Forestieri either side of half-time put the visitors into a 2-0 lead.

Ross McCormack missed a penalty when the score was still 0-0 and, despite Ben Osborn pulling one back for the Reds with half an hour still to play, the home side only rarely threatened for an equaliser.

Rookie keeper Jordan Smith was handed his first Forest start and was tested within the first three minutes, when former Reds loanee Sam Hutchinson let fly from the edge of the box with a low shot that flew through a host of bodies.

The hosts should have taken the lead when Ben Brereton threatened, latching onto a through ball from McCormack, only for Westwood to bring the striker down in the box. Referee Andy Madley pointed to the spot and showed a yellow card to the Wednesday man.

McCormack stepped up to take the spot-kick, but Westwood dived to his left to save the striker's weak effort.

Within a minute, the visitors had taken the lead with a spectacular goal. As Forest failed to clear their lines, Abdi reacted quickest to send a rasping volley high into the corner of the net.

Daniel Pinillos fired a half-chance wide for Forest, but it was Smith who had to make an outstanding save to deny Forestieri after he had ghosted clear down the middle, just before half-time.

Forestieri was not to be denied for long however, as he doubled the visitors' lead seven minutes into the second half. Forest struggled to clear an Abdi corner and, after collecting the ball with his back to goal, Forestieri found the top corner with a shot on the turn.

Forest made two changes in the 59th minute, bringing on Britt Assombalonga and Mustapha Carayol - and a minute later they had pulled a goal back.

It was the outstanding Brereton who was the catalyst as he chased a lost cause on the left, keeping the ball in before angling towards goal and luring Westwood off his line - before cutting the ball back for Osborn, who found a gap between three Wednesday defenders on the line to finish.

Brereton came close to an equaliser with a glancing header that dropped just wide, but sixth-placed Wednesday defended solidly to move seven points clear of Norwich.

Nottingham Forest boss Gary Brazil: "It is critical moments in games that decide whether you take three points, so it was tough for us. Not only to see us not score from the penalty - and we are not being critical of Ross, because he did not fail to score on purpose - but then to see them go down the other end of the pitch and score with a shot right into the 'postage stamp'.

"When that happens you can't help but feel a sense of injustice, just because of the timing of it all. And seeing the opposition score with another great finish like that is getting a bit repetitive, isn't it?!

Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal: "There were big moments in the game that were very important. One was when they missed the penalty and the other was when we scored a few minutes later.

"Even when Forest scored a goal, it was a mistake from us. We did not allow Forest to create too many chances, we were calm and the keeper did not have too many saves to make."