Nottingham Forest 1-2 Middlesbrough: Britt Assombalonga stars on City Ground return
- Published
Britt Assombalonga's first-half goal was his fifth goal in 23 appearances this season
Neil Warnock masterminded a sixth successive Championship victory over Nottingham Forest as former Reds striker Britt Assombalonga set Middlesbrough on their way to three points at the City Ground.
Assombalonga put Boro ahead from close range, finding the net with a low, first-time finish from Jonny Howson's pass.
The visitors doubled their lead on the counter-attack soon after the break when George Saville calmly slipped the ball past keeper Brice Samba as he raced through one-on-one.
Forest finally rallied late on, scoring with their first attempt on target when Loic Mbe Soh headed in his first senior goal from Joe Lolley's delightful cross.
But they could not find an equaliser and a miserable evening was completed by Yuri Ribeiro's 97th-minute red card after appearing to stamp on Saville as Boro, who move up to seventh in the Championship, tried to waste time in the corner.
Forest were unbeaten in six league games and had been steadily improving under Chris Hughton, who replaced Sabri Lamouchi in October after a run of six defeats from seven.
But they were second best by a considerable margin against Warnock's Boro, who are now just three points off the play-off places with a game in hand on sixth-placed Bournemouth, despite chastening recent defeats against lowly Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham.
Middlesbrough settled impressively following Assombalonga's tidy finish and he almost made it two when his header came hit the post and rebounded off keeper Brice Samba and over the bar.
Forest brought on Lyle Taylor at the break but it was 2-0 to the visitors within five minutes when Assombalonga held the ball up and Marcus Tavernier played a lovely pass through for Northern Ireland midfielder Saville to score.
Marc Bola and Sam Morsy both went close to extending the lead, but Boro did not need the security of a third goal despite the late home response which briefly threatened to salvage a point for a Forest side, who drop to 20th in the table.
Forest manager Chris Hughton:
"It was a disappointing night, particularly on the back of a seven-game unbeaten run [in all competitions] and a really good performance [against Millwall].
"We never really got going. We needed to impose ourselves more on them and we were not able to do that. If you cannot do that, you need to be resolute and solid at the back.
"We conceded two really poor goals. With the form we have been in and certainly the defensive form we have been in, it was not like us.
"My gut feeling is I have no complaints with the sending off. With where we are, we have to keep our discipline."
Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock:
"When Britt's like that, he's as good as anything. I just wish he'd do that every week.
"We were at it from the first minute, I knew we'd be all right. We never took our foot off the pedal. That's lovely to see.
"We were sloppy on Saturday, but the only disappointment was not scoring more goals. Apart from their goal, I can't think of a save our keeper had to make. I'd give Jonny Howson 11 out of 10 for his performance."