Forest run riot against Blackburn

Nottingham Forest have beaten Blackburn Rovers 4-1 in today's Championship meeting at the City Ground.

Two penalties from Henri Lansbury set the Reds on their way, before Ben Marshall struck in the first half to halve the deficit.

Jamie Paterson then restored Forest's two-goal lead midway through the second half, before a 20-yard effort from Andy Reid made it 4-1 to the Reds.

The game was lively from the start, Rudy Gestede shrugging off two Forest defenders before firing just wide of the far post from a narrow angle in the first few minutes.

Three minutes later, an effort from David Vaughan stung the palms of Simon Eastwood from 20 yards.

On the quarter-hour mark, Grant Hanley brought down Lansbury inside the box, prompting the referee to give Forest a penalty. Lansbury converted to make it 1-0 to the home side.

Forest doubled their lead in the 34th minute, after Paterson was brought down in the box. Lansbury, once again from the penalty spot, made no mistake.

However, Rovers halved the deficit when Marshall curled an effort into the Forest net just three minutes later.

In the second half, Blackburn came out all guns blazing and nearly equalised in the 47th minute. A Tom Cairney free-kick, floated to the Reds back post, was headed on by Scott Dann and struck by Tommy Spurr, but Karl Darlow was able to claw the ball away from the top corner.

Forest then made it three in the 72nd minute when Paterson collected the ball before dribbling into the Rovers box and striking low past Eastwood, for his fifth goal in three games.

In injury time, Reid fired a left-footed shot from outside the box into the top right corner to confirm an emphatic victory for Billy Davies's team.