Bristol City 2-1 Nottingham Forest
- Published
Bristol City celebrate midfielder Marlon Pack's first goal since April
Bristol City continued their impressive form with a hard-fought home victory over Nottingham Forest, their fourth successive Championship win.
Marlon Pack's 20-yard strike, his first goal of the season, and Joe Bryan's deflected effort put City 2-0 up.
Kieran Dowell then cut Forest's deficit moments after the break, guiding a long-range shot over Frank Fielding.
Tyler Walker came close to equalising, but the Robins held on to remain four points off second-placed Cardiff City.
Lee Johnson's side, who face Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, have now won eight of their past 10 games in all competitions.
Having controlled large parts of the first period, they were made to work hard for their victory after Dowell's eighth of the season made it 2-1.
Walker saw his attempt from inside the area diverted just wide, before Ben Osborn drilled narrowly over the bar from the edge of the box.
But Forest, who remain seven points outside the top six, were unable to find a second goal, meaning they have still not drawn a match this season.
Bristol City's players and staff dedicated their 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest to the family of eight-year-old Robins fan Ben Pritchard, who died from a brain tumour last month.
Bristol City assistant head coach Dean Holden:
"We deserved to win the game and can now go into the Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United full of confidence.
"Ever since the draw was made people have been wanting to know about that game. But we had a lot of important league fixtures in between and the lads have done really well to concentrate on each one.
"Now we can actually concentrate all our efforts on the tremendous challenge of trying to beat a fantastic team."
Nottingham Forest manager Mark Warburton told BBC Nottingham:
"We were 2-0 down because we didn't create chances and didn't look after the football well enough.
''I just thought we showed real energy in the second half. We have a really good, young, hungry squad.
''With Ben Osborn to come on and play in that manner speaks wonders about his quality."