Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest. Sky Bet Championship.
Portman RoadAttendance16,808.
Saturday 2 December 2017 18:35, UK
Ipswich climbed two places to seventh in the Sky Bet Championship table with a 4-2 victory over Nottingham Forest.
A second straight win for Town was secured with goals from Callum Connolly, Dominic Iorfa, Martyn Waghorn and Bersant Celina. Keiran Dowell and Tyler Walker replied for the visitors.
The hosts were on the front foot from the off and were awarded a free-kick in the third minute, 35 yards out, which was skied high over the bar by Waghorn.
Forest conceded another free-kick in a similar position five minutes later which was taken again by Waghorn. His shot was parried by the Forest keeper Jordan Smith but the ball fell to Connolly on the left-hand side of the penalty area and he converted.
The visitors nearly equalised in the 16th minute when a cross from the left from Dowell fell to Daryl Murphy whose shot on goal was smartly saved by the Town goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski. The rebound fell to Ben Osborn but his effort was saved.
Forest did draw level in the 29th minute following a free-kick from outside the penalty area which was touched to Dowell who did the rest. But Town regained the lead in the 37th minute. A flowing move down the left involving Emyr Huws and Celina led to Jonas Knudsen crossing for raiding full-back Iorfa to head home.
In the 43rd minute, Forest made it 2-2. A smart pass into the penalty area from Liam Bridcutt found Walker who fired past Bialkowski. Murphy was then freed up on the right-hand side of the Ipswich penalty area in the 50th minute and his powerful right-footed shot was parried over the bar by Bialkowski.
Forest skipper Michael Mancienne failed to deal with a pass back to his keeper Smith in the 53rd minute and Waghorn picked up the loose ball to stride into the penalty area and rifle a left-footed shot past the keeper to put Ipswich back in front.
Town made it four in the 67th minute when Huws fed Waghorn whose pass from the right-hand side of the penalty area was perfect for Celina to score with his left foot.
Mick McCarthy: "There's no such thing as a bad win that's for sure but that was particularly pleasing, especially scoring four goals. I don't think we have ever seen heads drop. They are a really good bunch of lads."
"[Waghorn] epitomised the performance really. He was a real thorn in their side, he was fabulous. If I thought he was not a good player I would not have signed him. His pass to Santi (Celina) for the fourth goal was terrific. He did not lash at it, he has put it right on a plate. He is better than I thought he was."
Mark Warburton: "In the first 10 minutes we found ourselves one down and we hadn't got the ball into the Ipswich box, hadn't got into their final third, so we started the game slowly. But a great set-piece and we're back in it, a good goal, and I thought our second goal was tremendous.
"But we gave two soft goals away. We made two calamitous mistakes, simple as that. We can't give away goals away and from that we have got a mountain to climb."
