Forest fly up to second as Radoslaw Majewski silences The Hawthorns

Posted Saturday, January 09, 2010 by theguardian.com

West Brom 1 Bednar 64
Nottingham Forest 3 Blackstock 18, Majewski 53, Cohen 56

Forest fly up to second as Radoslaw Majewski silences The Hawthorns
Nottingham Forest's Chris Cohen, left, celebrates scoring his side's third goal with Dexter Blackstock at The Hawthorns.

Nottingham Forest's relentless march towards the top of the Championship continued last night as Billy Davies's side vanquished West Bromwich Albion to leapfrog their Midlands opponents and move into the second automatic promotion place. Davies remains adamant that Forest need another season in the Championship to prepare for life in the Premier League but performances like this suggest his players have other ideas. Forest were excellent and thoroughly deserved their victory.

Davies's team have now gone 18 matches unbeaten and the two goals scored in four minutes shortly after half-time were emblematic of the confidence coursing through the visitors. Radoslaw Majewski's brilliant volley from an acute angle fizzed past Scott Carson before Chris Cohen finished off a fine move on the right flank that included four one-touch passes before he drilled home. There were 34 minutes remaining but the slow thud of upturned seats started to reverberate as a number of Albion fans headed for the exits.

Roberto Di Matteo's side belatedly rallied, the substitute Roman Bednar turning in Graeme Dorrans's sublime pass to pull a goal back in the 64th minute – the first Forest had conceded in more than 10 hours of football- before Jonas Olsson and Ishmael Miller drew fine saves from Lee Camp later in the game. Albion had been poor for long periods, however, and the chorus of boos that greeted the half-time as well as the final whistle told its own story. "Too many of our players had bad nights," reflected Di Matteo. "If I had the answer why, I would be a very clever man."

The Forest manager could be forgiven for believing he is exactly that at the moment. "I said before the game that we had to come here and justify our position in the league and we did that by the performance we put on in the first hour. There was some great football and wonderful goals," said Davies, who, with some justification, thought that Forest should have had a penalty shortly after Bednar's goal, when Jerome Thomas appeared to bundle over Paul Anderson.

Victory was particularly sweet for Davies after Di Matteo had suggested beforehand that Forest were set up negatively. In truth Davies got his tactics spot on as the 4-2-3-1 formation he used gave Forest defensive insurance but also a platform to attack in numbers, something that was evident in a first half that saw the visitors dominate and take a deserved lead when Dexter Blackstock escaped the clutches of the debutant Gabriel Tamas to volley in Majewski's corner.

The only surprise was that it took until the second half for Forest to add to their goals. Both, however, were worth waiting for. Majewski's ferocious volley from Chris Gunter's deep cross was reminiscent of Marco van Basten's famous strike for Holland in 1988 and Cohen's effort three minutes later was just as easy on the eye, as Forest's crisp, incisive passing carved Albion open. "The last thing you can call us is defensive," said Davies, smiling.