Owls scrape home win as Forest fight back
It was a nail-biter but Wednesday held on to take all 3 points against struggling Nottingham Forest on a cold night in a half-filled Hillsborough with Sky TV camera's there. Wednesday's recent good form continued here and it's now just one defeat in eight for Danny Wilson and his players. For Forest it just gets worse as relegation and an instant return to Division One seems likely.
It was an unchanged Wednesday line-up and Forest did have their two main strikers Van Hooijdonk and Darcheville despite worries they would both have to sit this one out through injury.
The game went Wednesday's way in the first half and Rudi had two chances in the opening stages but failed to put away either of them. Forest also had a chance when Rogers had his effort saved by Wednesday's inform keeper Srnicek. The Owls did score though on 22 minutes when Carbone picked out Alexandersson with a cross and the Swede nodded home to score his 3rd of the season.
Forest manager Dave Bassett said after the game he was furious over his team's first half performance, describing his players as "fairies".
Half-time: Owls 1-0 Forest
On 54 minutes it was 2-0 to Wednesday when Hjelde's shocking clearance fell straight to the little Italian wizard Carbone who chipped Forest keeper Beasant beautifully to score his first of the season.
Forest showed some fighting spirit and 90 seconds later they pulled one back - A Rogers cross was put in at the back post by Bonalair, he also opened his account for the season.
Three minutes later Wednesday increased their lead again when Carbone popped up to score his second of the game and make it 3-1. The Norwegian Rudi sent the Italian clear and he curled it into the corner of the net.
Forest pulled another one back with 20 minutes left to go. A shot had rebounded of Walker and fell straight to Van Hooijdonk and the Dutchman, unpopular with his own teammates and manager following a personal three month strike, fired past Srnicek to pull it back to 3-2.
It was an anxious last few minutes for the Owls and their fans but they held on to take all 3 points and move up to 14th in the table. Next up - Charlton Athletic, who have struggled of late, at Hillsborough. Another game the Owls must look to win.
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Chettle