Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest at The City Ground to move to within two points of a play-off place.
When these two sides meet you are guaranteed goals, and this game didn’t disappoint. Forest took the lead with just three minutes on the clock when Joe Lolley made a scintillating run through Villa’s midfield, played it wide to Jack Colback, whose cross soared over Jed Steer and into the back of the net.
Villa, to their credit, didn’t let their heads drop and they were back on level terms just 4 minutes later when John McGinn beat Costel Pantilimon at his near post. The away side then took the lead 8 minutes later when McGinn beat Pantilimon again with a speculative shot from around 25 yards.
Strangely, there were no goals for the rest of the half and Villa went in at the break with a one goal lead.
Forest started the second-half brightly and looked the more likely to score, but, against the run of play, Villa double their lead in the 61st minute when Kourtney Hause tapped home a brilliant cross from Conor Hourihane.
The home side tried their best to get into the contest, but they were met by some resolute Villa defence.
Here are our Villa player ratings for tonight’s game against Nottingham Forest:
