Birmingham City 0-3 Nottingham Forest: Lewis Grabban stunner sparks third successive away win
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Lewis Grabban hits his fourth goal in six matches
Nottingham Forest secured a third straight away win as they continued their revival under new boss Steve Cooper at Birmingham.
City began well as Tahith Chong's strike hit the post, but moments later Lewis Grabban steered a superb 20-yard strike into the top corner.
Forest landed another sucker-punch when Ryan Yates headed Philip Zinckernagel's corner past goalkeeper Matija Sarkic after Blues had hit the post for a second time through Lukas Jutkiewicz's header.
Another stunning finish made it three when Grabban and Zinckernagel combined to feed Djed Spence, who cracked a shot into the top corner from a tight angle.
Forest sat bottom of the Championship with a single point when Chris Hughton departed as manager last month but are now five places and three points above the relegation zone after a third win in an unbeaten four-match run.
By contrast, Birmingham have taken one point from their past five matches and dropped to 16th - just a place above their visitors - having chalked up three wins and a single defeat in their opening six outings.
Yet the hosts were out of luck and enjoyed no reward for a bright start, Jutkiewicz forcing Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba into a fine early save before both Manchester United loanee Chong and Jutkiewicz struck the woodwork before Forest's strikes.
Blues also had the ball in the net towards the end of an eventful first half, but Scott Hogan's effort was ruled out for offside.
And the game was over shortly after the break as Forest's new-found cutting edge continued when Spence's fine strike made it nine goals in four matches - they had scored five times in seven previous league games this season.
Lee Bowyer's Blues side continued to create openings, but their fortunes failed to improve as Kristian Pedersen saw a header cleared off the line by Grabban before Samba got down low to keep out Chong's free-kick.
Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer told BBC WM 95.6:
"I feel like I'm repeating myself, especially after the last few games - creating a lot of chances, but it's just not going in for us.
"We should take the lead, we don't, and from nowhere, against the run of play, Grabban picks the ball up, travels a long way without anyone putting any pressure on him and he has a free shot from outside the box.
"I don't see my strikers doing that. The goals we're conceding, it's not good enough, so this is something we need to address.
"I don't know what's changed, but something's going to change now because I'm not having that."
Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper told BBC Radio Nottingham:
"I thought there were two parts to the game. Normal in-and-out-of-possession play I thought we were excellent.
"We limited them to a few chances from open play and looked a real threat with the ball. Scoring three goals away from home is always good and it could have been more.
"I didn't love us at set-pieces. We got through a couple of scary moments and that's something we've really go to hone in on, because this league demands that you defend set-pieces better than we did.
"No-one's getting carried away, it's four games and we've picked up some good points, but we have to come back after the international break in an even stronger place than we are now."
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