Nottingham Forest vs Watford match report: Hornets keep the pressure on top two as Heurelho Gomes stays strong

Nottingham Forest 1 Watford 3

(Getty Images)

Under the City Ground lights, the sight of those once-famous red Nottingham Forest shirts evokes a more successful era for spectators of a certain vintage but last night it was the fans in the packed away end dreaming of the good times returning.

In winning on the banks on the Trent, Slavisa Jokanovic’s Watford side moved back above Middlesbrough into third place in the Championship and kept alive hopes of ending an eight-year exile from the Premier League.

After first-half strikes from Odion Ighalo and on-loan defender Matthew Connolly, Watford looked poised to go on and earn the three-goal victory needed to leapfrog second-placed Norwich City on goal difference.

That particular hope was dented when a spirited Forest side shrugged off the loss of Kelvin Wilson to a red card to score through Gary Gardner, although the visitors still had the last laugh, Almen Abdi burying the rebound after Karl Darlow had parried Adlene Guedioura’s drive.

It was Watford’s sixth victory in their last eight away games although Jokanovic admitted that Forest made it difficult for them in the second half. “We believed after the second goal that we could go on and get some more goals and put ourselves in a better position in the Championship table but it is not easy playing against ten men and controlling a game for 90 minutes,” he said. “I have to be happy with our performance because we are still in with a good chance.”

Watford had the perfect platform of a fourth-minute goal from their Nigerian forward, Ighalo. Matej Vydra had scored a brilliant volley against Millwall last weekend but Ighalo justified at once his recall in Vydra’s place by nodding in his 20th goal of the season at the back post after Craig Cathcart had headed on Abdi’s corner.

They might have had a second goal when Ighalo’s flick released the onrushing Abdi but the Swiss winger shot wide. Yet while Watford move the ball forward with impressive speed and slickness, it said something about an end-to-end contest that their goalkeeper, Heurelho Gomes, was probably the man of the match.

In the first minute Gomes had showed smart reactions to foil Chris Burke with his feet after Michail Antonio had given him a clear sight of goal, and he later made diving saves to stop Antonio, Ben Osborn and Eric Lichaj before half-time. “Gomes is very good and today he helped us in many situations,” said Jokanovic. “He is an important part of my team.”

The importance of those saves was underlined when Watford snatched a second goal in the 42nd minute. Connolly surged upfield from the edge of his own box to set up Ighalo for a chance and although Karl Darlow made the save, the goalkeeper let the ball sprawl away for Connolly, following up, to score his first goal for over two years.

Forest manager Dougie Freedman, who confirmed after the game that he had agreed a new two-year contract, said Watford’s finishing ability was the principal difference between the sides. “The difference tonight was the quality of their finishing. We had opportunities and their goalkeeper was man of the match – he made three or four fantastic saves.”

Watford gained a man advantage after 59 minutes when Wilson, the home defender, aimed a kick at Ighalo after the pair tangled, though Ighalo, who lay theatrically on the turf, was perhaps lucky not to avoid any sanction himself after then hitting out at Lichaj as he tried to pull him back to his feet.

To their credit Forest pulled a goal back when Craig Cathcart tripped Lichaj on the edge of the box and Gardner, the midfielder on loan from Aston Villa, finally beat Gomes with a free-kick in off the underside of the crossbar. Had Antonio not then missed an open goal, after Gomes parried Gardner’s drive, there might have been an unlikely comeback but Watford’s march goes on.