A look at the Championship table and recent form prior to the Easter Monday clash between Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough, you could be forgiven for thinking things took on something of an unexpected course.
Forest had lost four in a row during some pretty tepid displays, with calls for their manager Martin O’Neill to be sacked after their play-off hopes went up in smoke, while Boro had won last time out to reignite their own promotion hopes and sat sixth with a top six berth firmly within their grasp.
Football rarely works like that, however.
As it was, the Reds thumped sorry Boro 3-0 at the City Ground to wide acclaim, including former Liverpool player and television summariser Neil Mellor.
Mellor watched on as rampant Forest scored twice through Joe Lolley either side of a crashing volley from Alexander Milosevic, and admitted O’Neill’s men deserved more than the 3-0 success they secured.
But for the post coupled with a man of the match display from Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Darren Randolph, it could have been five or six, and Mellor ripped into Pulis’ outfit, while reserving special praise for the Reds who turned in one of their most impressive displays of the campaign.
“They were really poor," he told Sky Sports.
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“There was no sign of the side that had won three in a row. This is a team that are supposed to be chasing the play-off places.
"Nottingham Forest were superb in the second half.
“The result doesn't even reflect how dominant Forest were.
“They had one shot on target and that was deflected. They don't create enough and need to improve in that area."
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