Nottingham Forest made sure it is not only Liverpool they have in their sights, in next Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final, but also the Championship’s play-off places as Keinan Davis’s two goals took them within two points of the top six.
The striker, on loan from Aston Villa, set Forest on their way by scoring after 17 seconds, with their quickest league goal since Jack Lester in 2020, and effectively sealed Reading’s third successive defeat with another midway through the second half. Ryan Yates and Sam Surridge embellished what Paul Ince called an “embarrassing” capitulation.
Reading’s buffer from the relegation zone is now down to four points and while they threatened briefly in the latter part of the first half, they were grateful Barnsley below them were pegged back by Fulham.
“You can see we have a soft belly. They need to dig in and they’re not digging in. It was 4-0 and it could’ve been more,” Ince, Reading’s temporary manager, said. “We’re in a dogfight and teams like Peterborough, Barnsley and Derby are scrapping. I’ve told them, I’m not putting up with that. That second half was embarrassing.”
Straight from kick-off, Davis was granted both space and time to collect Djed Spence’s delivery from the right, turn and rifle in his third goal since in January.
With only two wins in 17 games, Reading’s confidence could have been on the floor. Instead, they briefly earned a foothold in the game, with Tom Ince increasingly prominent as he roamed in from the right wing. From his left-wing centre, Yakou Méïté stormed in to head wide of the far post.
Forest looked nervy, even though they had twice as much possession, and they then had to reshuffle four minutes before half-time as Max Lowe went off with a groin injury.
Steve Cooper said the players themselves sorted his half-time team talk for him. “What was good about today was the first half was a good reminder of what not to do and the team we don’t want to be,” the Forest manager said, “versus the second half which was exactly what we want to be.”
The whole second half was played in Reading’s half, Spence was more advanced with his forays from the right and James Garner’s deliveries into the box were every bit as devilish. The City Ground rediscovered their voice and it was no surprise when Davis doubled the advantage with his second goal.
The former England Under-20 striker bustled his way into the penalty area before opening up his body to fire a powerful left-footed shot in off the far post. “It’s great to have him here,” Cooper said. “You see the powerful player around the box, he can make things happen [but also] he’s a really good technical player.”
Yates got in on the act 10 minutes from time as, receiving the ball back from Spence, he shot home from 25 yards out. Then Forest’s strength in depth shone through as Xande Silva, one substitute, crossed from the right for Surridge to sidefoot home with first-time confidence.
Cooper is waiting to see if Steve Cook, who injured his ankle late on, and Lowe (groin) can recover for Wednesday’s game at home to play-off rivals QPR. It could be quite a week.
