Nottingham Forest 2-0 Scunthorpe United
Report from the City Ground

Click here for a detailed minute by minute analysis from the game

Scunthorpe were beaten 2-0 by a dominant Nottingham Forest side at the City Ground on Wednesday night.

Second-half goals from Luke Chambers and Dexter Blackstock sealed the victory for Billy Davies' charges.

It was an even opening half but the home team came into their own during the second period and managed to secure all three points.

The Iron entered the game making one change from the side which drew 2-2 with Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

Cliff Byrne came into the side for David Mirfin, who missed out with a groin injury after hobbling off with the problem at Doncaster.

Joe Murphy started the game in goal with Byrne, Jordan Spence, Rob Jones and Marcus Williams forming the defence.

The midfield consisted of Michael O'Connor, Sam Togwell, Josh Wright and Grant McCann, with Paul Hayes partnering Jonathan Forte up front.

The substitutes were Josh Lillis, Niall Canavan, Andrew Wright, Matt Sparrow, Martyn Woolford, Ian Morris and Garry Thompson.

There was a great atmosphere building up at the City Ground and it was the hosts who got off to a great start and did the early pressing although Scunthorpe held firm and weren't really troubled.

The first chance of the night came courtesy of Joe Garner, whose header went wide after a Forest corner.

The Reds continued to attack and Murphy had to stop an effort from Chambers amidst a goalmouth scramble.

Although Forte tried to create chances for Scunthorpe up front, Forest kept pressing and former LIverpool winger Paul Anderson headed wide shortly after.

The Iron looked encouraging on the break and conjured up a flowing passing move on the half-hour mark around the edge of the Nottingham Forest penalty area.

However, Williams slipped on the surface just as he received the ball out left and looked like sending a cross in.

Shortly after, Togwell produced a shot from distance which was easily saved by Lee Camp.

The away side were coming more and more into the game as the opening half wore on and had their best chance so far with Hayes' powerful shot hitting the side-netting from the edge of the area.

Chambers tested Murphy with another header shortly before half-time as the game flowed from end to end. At this stage, it was anybody's match.

There was slight controversy before the break as Murphy was shown a yellow card for handling the ball outside the 18-yard box. Forest didn't make anything of the subsequent free-kick however as the two sides went in scoreless at the interval.

The Reds started the second half with intent and Nathan Tyson almost forced his way through before Murphy latched on to the loose ball.

Then, the Irish shotstopper was drawn into a magnificent stop from point blank range after the Iron had failed to clear their lines correctly and Gunter's shot was tipped over.

The hosts had got a head of steam and kept pushing for that elusive opener, sensing it was coming soon.

Hayes had a great chance on the break for United but his shot from the edge of the area cleared the crossbar.

It was brief respite for Scunthorpe, who had to cope with continual bombardments from Forest.

In the 63rd minute Murphy limped off with an injury sustained from keeping out another home attack and Lillis, back from his one month loan at Grimsby, replaced him.

There was another Scunthorpe change when Woolford replaced McCann to add more pace on the break.

Lillis was soon drawn into a sublime save by Tyson who had powered in a shot from just inside the penalty area.

However, that elusive goal finally arrived for Forest in the 71st minute as Chambers headed in a corner from Chris Cohen.

Then, after pressure from Scunthorpe just before, Forest added a second when Blackstock struck home from five yards out, although there were suggestions that Josh Wright had got a last touch. He got on the end of a cross from the right to seemingly finish off the Iron.

Scunthorpe brought the tiring Togwell off and replaced him with Thompson, and a combination of Woolford and Forte almost drew a consolation strike for the Iron, with the former just failing to get a touch as the ball drifted across goal from the latter's shot.

They kept pushing for a goal but it wasn't going to come as they suffered their first defeat in over a month.

The Iron are next in action on Saturday when they travel to Plymouth Argyle.

Attendance: 18,339 (1,042 away).