Nottingham Forest continued their slide down the league table at the hands of Birmingham City who beat them 3-1 at the City Ground. David Cotterill scored twice in the first half, with Clayton Donaldson adding a third in a ten minute spell which stunned the hosts. Britt Assombalonga scored a consolation goal late on to give the Forest fans something to cheer.
Stuart Pearce named the same team which lost 3-0 at Middlesbrough just a couple of days ago. Birmingham were the team who made the brighter start in the game, putting some early pressure on Forest. Henri Lansbury was the first to come close to scoring as hit shot just went wide of the target. Forest then started to play very good football, probably the best the Forest fans have seen in a long time. Matty Fryatt was next to miss a big chance as he headed just over. Then came Forest's best chance of the game so far as Assombalonga's shot was saved by the keeper and Lansbury's shot on the rebound was deflected just wide when it looked certain to be a goal. Henri Lansbury then picked up his yellow card which now means he is suspended for Rochdale and Sheffield Wednesday. The free kick proved costly as David Cotterill stepped up and slotted it into the bottom corner through a crowd of players. It was then 2-0 in a couple of minutes as David Cotterill picked up a quick throwing which the Forest defence failed to deal with and did a similar shot into the bottom corner again to put Birmingham 2-0 up. Forest's confidence looked shattered and the defence was all over the place. This was typified as Birmingham went 3-0 up as Darlow's save hit Michael Mancienne which let Clayton Donaldson tap home a third for the visitors. This left the Forest crowd stunned after what was a promising first half an hour. Robert Tesche almost gave Forest a lifeline in the game as his stunning shot from just outside the area hit the underside of the bar.
Forest started the second half brightly, and came out of the blocks looking for a route back into the game. Britt Assombalonga had a good chance to get Forest back into the game but couldn't quite get his foot around the ball to put it into the back of the net. Robert Tesche then arguably had a chance which was easier to score as he headed wide from a corner when he was unmarked. Eric Lichaj was looking dangerous down the right hand side and was putting some very good crosses into the box which was causing Birmingham problems. Ben Osborn was brought on by Stuart Pearce and he made a difference to the game. He put in a cross for Britt Assombalonga to head home for a consolation goal late on in the game.
Overall, it was a very strange game to watch at the City Ground. Forest probably deserved to go into half time in front but instead went in 3-0 down. This was mainly due to how fragile Forest now are in defence. As soon as they conceded the first goal, they looked like the lost confidence after a good start and went on to concede three goals in ten minutes. It wasn't good enough for a Forest side who really should be beating teams like Birmingham City at home.
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