Huddersfield Town took advantage of Nottingham Forest ’s defensive fragilities to heap yet more December misery on the Reds.
Forest have conceded from set-pieces with a concerning degree of regularity in recent weeks, and that was an area the Terriers looked to seize upon, according to goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
Despite a dominant start at the john Smith’s Stadium, Sabri Lamouchi’s Forest went behind just after the half-hour, having failed to deal with a corner into their box, allowing captain Christopher Schindler to force home.
Things went from bad to worse at the start of the second half when Joe Worrall lost the run of striker Steve Mounie, without a goal since February, to head in and make it 2-0 and ensure their struggles continued.
Worrall then headed in one of his own to give Forest hope in the closing stages, but it was a fifth game without victory which saw their play-off bid hit a brick wall and a familiar story of shipping from set-pieces.
In just this month alone, Forest have conceded similar goals at Millwall and then Sheffield Wednesday last week, something boss Danny Cowley focused his side on.
“We exposed their weaknesses in the set piece area,” said Grabara.
“We saw the Sheffield Wednesday game and they scored headers if I remember good, so we looked at that and took that into our game.
“I think they have a different perception on our set pieces, we look dangerous again.
“It’s good to have it in your locker, you need to have it in the Championship, so I’m pleased we scored and it’s all good.”
