Nottingham Forest 2-0 Ipswich: Lewis Grabban scores twice to prolong misery for Town
Lewis Grabban maintained his searing hot form as Nottingham Forest continued their promotion push with a 2-0 win over strugglers Ipswich.
The £6m striker scored both goals to take his tally to five in three games – and 15 for the campaign – as Aitor Karanka’s side retained their place in the Championship top six with a win that was more comfortable than the score suggested.
Paul Lambert’s side showed only flashes of menace, with Bartosz Bialkowski by far the busier of the two keepers, as he made amends for a costly early mistake, by making a string of important saves.
But it rarely looked like being enough to prevent Ipswich from suffering a sixth defeat in eight games, as they find themselves rooted to the foot of the table.
Forest made the breakthrough in the ninth minute, following a moment Bialkowski will want to forget.
Tendayi Darikwa had a powerful shot from the edge of the box but, while it was well struck, the keeper will have been frustrated not to hold the ball, which spun from his grasp – and the instinctive Grabban was quick to react, forcing the ball into the back of the net from a few yards.
A mistake from Jack Colback almost allowed Kayden Jackson to plunder an unlikely equaliser, as he was allowed to power into the box, but he let Forest off the hook by lashing his shot wildly wide.
Joe Lolley, another man in fine form for the Reds, tested Bialkowski with a curling, dipping shot that the keeper this time held well.
Jackson continued to deliver numerous warnings to Forest, with the Ipswich striker sending a header inches wide of the post and then forcing an awkward save from Costel Pantilimon with a low, driven effort.
Forest were inches away from extending their lead as Darikwa delivered a cross to the far post, where Dias was arriving to attack a header – only to see it bounce away off the inside of the opposite upright.
The home side did make it 2-0 in the 38th minute, when Darikwa delivered another outstanding ball into the centre. Grabban was in the perfect position at the far post, where he still had work to do, to squeeze home a shot from the tightest of angles.
The second half continued in a similar theme, as Michael Hefele saw a header bounce away off the post. While Grabban, in search of his hat-trick, hit the bar after beating Bialkowski to a bouncing ball on the edge of the box.
Bialkowski denied Lolley with a fine save, just as his shot seemed bound for the bottom corner, while a vital block from Matthew Pennington again denied Grabban his hat-trick.
The managers
Aitor Karanka: „Since the season has started, this squad and this group of players all deserve credit. Not just the players who are starting or who are on the bench, but all the players. They all deserve credit.
„This group of players deserve to be at the top end of the Championship and beyond that in future; they deserve everything. It was important for us to finish well and I think we did that.We could have won 5-0 or 6-0 but a 2-0 win finished an amazing week for us.“
Paul Lambert: „If we can stay in the fight, I think we are in a seven-team league at the bottom. If we can get a little bit of help in January, let’s see what happens.
„Confidence is not an issue. The lads have been great and there is a real good spirit at the club. We will never let that go. You cannot just blame the defence or the keeper, it is a collective thing. We cannot give away sloppy goals against a side of the calibre of Forest, who have invested well.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
