Sheffield Wednesday 0 – 1 Nottingham Forest
Promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest grinded out an ugly victory against strugglers Sheffield Wednesday, in a drab affair at Hillsborough.
The encounter had few clear cut chances, and Wednesday’s best scoring opportunities fell to giant striker Atdhe Nuhiu, who headed wide on three minutes, before losing his composure in a one-on-one with Forest ‘keeper Karl Darlow.
The visitors opened the scoring three minutes after the interval, when Jara’s magnificent pass sent through right back Greg Halford, who pulled the ball back across goal for the unmarked Simon Cox to poach home from close range.
Both sides showed very little quality going forward, which made for a dire game at S6.
Sheffield Wednesday
| Damien Martinez – The Arsenal loanee wasn’t called into action much at all. | 6.5 |
| Liam Palmer – Dealt with the threat of Abdoun capably. | 6.5 |
| Glenn Loovens – The Dutchman put in an assured performance at the back. | 7.0 |
| Roger Johnson – Slipped in the build up to the goal, but was reasonably untroubled, along with Loovens. | 6.5 |
| Joe Mattock – Was out of position for the goal, but he faired reasonably well apart from that. | 6.5 |
| Kieran Lee – Ineffective, and offered little attacking threat | 6.0 |
| Seyi Olofinjana – When the Nigerian tried to play forward passes, he often lost possession. | 5.5 |
| Jose Semedo – Broke up play well and didn’t allow Lansbury or Reid to get into good forward positions. | 7.0 |
| Jacques Maghoma – His crossing was below par, and he didn’t really trouble Greg Halford enough. | 6.0 |
| Connor Wickham – It’s obvious that Wickham has Premiership quality, but he needs decent service from the players in and around him, which he didn’t get against Forest. | 6.5 |
| Atdhe Nuhiu – Dealt with easily by Hobbs and Lascelles. The Austrian also missed a gift of an opportunity, when Karl Darlow rolled the ball straight to him, but Nuhiu’s second touch was terrible, and Darlow made amends by taking the ball of his foot. | 5.5 |
Substitutions
| Jeremy Helan – Didn’t make too much of an impact, but his pace and fresh legs gave Billy Davies something else to think about. | 6.0 |
| Reda Johnson – Pointless move by Gray to bring on the towering Beninan. | 6.0 |
| Jermaine Johnson – Not enough time to make an impact. | 6.0 |
Nottingham Forest
| Karl Darlow – Like his opposite number, untroubled. | 6.5 |
| Greg Halford – Sound defensively, and it was his cross that set up Cox | 7.5 |
| Jack Hobbs – The Liverpool product muted the threat of Wickham comfortably, and looked fairly comfortable in possession. | 7.0 |
| Jamal Lascelles – Untroubled, along with Hobbs. | 7.0 |
| Dan Harding – I forgot he was playing, which isn’t such a bad thing if you’re a left-back! | 6.5 |
| Gonzalo Jara – The Chilean international’s passing was excellent, and he protected the back four well. | 7.5 |
| Andy Reid – Anonymous for the most part. | 6.5 |
| Henri Lansbury – Couldn’t get into the game. | 6.5 |
| Jamie Mackie – Offered very little of a threat. | 6.0 |
| Djamal Abdoun – Kept popping up in dangerous areas. Arguably, one of Forest’s stronger performers. | 6.5 |
| Simon Cox – The poacher’s goal separated the sides, and he had a few moments where he looked dangerous | 7.5 |
Substitutions
| Eric Lichaj – Came on deep into the second half, and helped the visitors protect their slender advantage. | 6.0 |
| Nathaniel Chalobah – Five minutes wasn’t enough time for the Chelsea loanee to impact proceedings. | 6.0 |
Man of the Match
| Gonzalo Jara – No-one really stood out, but the diminutive Chilean looked composed in possession, and his passing was second to none, not because it was exquisite, but because the encounter was of a poor standard. | 7.5 |
