Alexander Milosevic celebrated his first goal in English football in quite some style on Easter Monday.
Restored to Nottingham Forest's starting line-up at the expense of the suspended Yohan Benalouane, the experienced Swede crashed in an unstoppable volley past in-form Darren Randolph to give Forest a deserved 2-0 lead over Middlesbrough, his strike coming either side of a Joe Lolley brace orchestrated by Joao Carvalho.
Milosevic's powerful volley came in the 64th minute of a resounding 3-0 victory which saw Martin O’Neill relieve some of the mounting pressure which had built up after four straight league defeats had extinguished any hope of a top six finish.
The 27-year-old hadn’t scored a goal since July 2014 when he netted for his former club AIK Solna, and revealed his delight at being back in the starting XI having been left out for a month.
“Happy to be back in the team again. Clean sheet, three points and a goal. What a time to be alive,” he wrote on Twitter, followed by #backwithabang.
He came off the bench on Good Friday after Benalouane’s sending off, his first appearance since the 3-1 City Ground reverse to Aston Villa in mid-March.
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Milosevic will hope to keep his place in Martin O’Neill’s side alongside Molla Wague on Saturday when the Reds make their final away trip of the season to struggling QPR this weekend.
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