Nottingham Forest have moved up to 13th in the Championship table courtesy of a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City at the City Ground this evening.
The home side ended a seven-match winless streak that stretched back to August thanks to goals form Eric Lichaj, Apostolos Vellios and Hildeberto Pereira, with Birmingham only managing a Lukasz Jutkiewicz header in response.
The hosts were the first to threaten after just five minutes when Henri Lansbury found Ben Osborn, who proceeded to curl an effort narrowly wide of the target from 25 yards.
Lansbury had the ball in the back of the net himself just five minutes later, but his free kick was ruled out for offside as the scores remained goalless.
It continued to be the home side who were looking the most likely to break the deadlock, though, and Nicklas Bendtner was the next to come close when he nodded a free kick just past the post.
The opening goal did finally arrive shortly after the half-hour mark, with Bendtner acting as provider when his cross was taken down by Lichaj, who proceeded to pick out the bottom corner with his finish.
Forest, without manager Philippe Montanier as he begins a two-match touchline ban, protected that lead until half time, but Birmingham fired a warning shot at the start of the second half when Che Adams saw an effort fly wide from inside the penalty area.
The hosts made things more comfortable shortly after the hour mark, though, as Vellios poked Lansbury's cross in at the front post to double his side's advantage.
Forest have dropped a league-high 15 points from winning positions this season, and they may have been beginning to fear the worst once again when Birmingham pulled a goal back with just over 15 minutes remaining, with Jutkiewicz nodding home at the back post to extend Forest's wait for a clean sheet to 16 matches.
The home side would not add to that tally this evening, though, restoring their two-goal advantage with seven minutes remaining when Pereira met Osborn's low cross in the middle to all but seal a rare victory for his side.
The returning Clayton Donaldson had one last effort to launch a late comeback with a long-range strike that flew over in the final minute of normal time, but Forest held out for just their fourth win of the season.
Birmingham, meanwhile, miss the chance to move up to second in the table having seen their eight-match unbeaten away streak in the Championship come to an end.
Barney Corkhill
