A damaging 20-minute spell in the second half saw Nottingham Forest fall to a second successive away defeat as they were beaten 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.
After a promising opening 45 minutes, Martin O’Neill’s side were caught napping after the break as their play-offs hopes took a significant hit at Hillsborough.
Reds reporter Paul Taylor gives his verdict on the Championship clash in our latest Forest video.
Boss O’Neill had rung the changes on the back of last weekend’s loss at Rotherham United, with Luke Steele starting between the posts, Arvin Appiah making his full debut and Sam Byram returning from his long injury lay-off, while Ryan Yates and Jack Robinson were also recalled.
And his team started well, largely keeping the Owls at bay in the first half, as well as creating a few decent opportunities of their own.
Steele pulled off a couple of fine saves at one end of the pitch, while Joe Lolley went close a few times at the other end.
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Forest’s best chance, though, came just before the interval, when Lewis Grabban sent a tame shot wide rather than pass to Lolley.
It was then a very different performance from O’Neill’s men in the second half.
Wednesday took the lead inside two minutes through Marco Matias and doubled it little more than 10 minutes later when George Boyd found the back of the net.
When Matias grabbed his second of the evening in the 67th minute, it was game over for the visitors.
They now sit six points adrift of the top six with five games of the season left to play, starting at home to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
