The difference between the Championship's top three in Fulham, Bournemouth and West Brom on recent evidence is goals.

What the Baggies enjoy from a fluid attack which can interchange and confuse defences, they lack a natural line-leader and goal scorer such as Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dominic Solanke at their promotion rivals.

How do you solve that? January's transfer window most likely...

In League Two they're back under way at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Dom Telford's first-half beauty the difference.

Image source, Rex Features

All square at the break as Forest do their level best to frustrate, while West Brom had all the ball and failed to give it the magic touch.

Can't say it's been the best game I've watched. Neither keeper has been truly stretched.

Brice Samba's save from Grady Diangana probably the best shot/save combo we've had tonight.

Let's blame the weather.

Forest break after Lewis Grabban holds the ball up smartly on the left, but his interchange of passes with James Garner just goes awry.

Then the Baggies burst forward, a flurry of movement, but Garner tracks back to make a sliding challenge.

Destined for half-time stalemate...

Forest concede a corner as Gaetan Bong cannot stop a riccochet dribbling behind.

A low ball in sees Callum Robinson ghost onto it but his shot is blocked.

Another corner.

Gavin Ward called over to sort out a game of pat-a-cake in the box.

To paraphrase an old fairy tale, West Brom have huffed, and puffed, but cannot blow the Forest house down.

Callum Robinson shuffles his feet and works a yard on the edge of the Forest box with a string of fluoro shirts in his eyeline, but his snap shot sears into Brice Samba's midriff.

Karlan Grant curls the set-piece into the away fans behind the goal. Forest breathe again.

Baggies will want some reward soonish for their opportunities.

Route one from Matt Clarke for West Brom sees Callum Robinson latch on and drive towards goal but he's hauled down by Ryan Yates on the cusp of the D.

Free-kick.

Brice Samba looks like he's playing charades with the multitude of gestures and facial expressions he is displaying during his argument with team-mate Scott McKenna.

It all comes after a poor back-pass and poor clearance.

West Brom put the ball into the box and Samba punches away, while the scuffed shot toward goal on the back of it is an easy claim.

Forest cannot afford to be so slipshod.

Dom Telford's belter - his 14th goal of the season - gives Newport a half-time advantage in Essex in this League Two game.

First time Djed Spence gets a run down the right and it's a dazzling burst. He beats one man with a stepover blitz and then ghosts beyond Matt Clarke but the cross goes behind.

Forest's corner is soaked up at the near post and West Brom clear.

That's perhaps the outlet for Forest.

Image source, Rex Features

Disappointing miss by Darnell Furlong from a Baggies perspective.

Karlan Grant is the creator as he drops a shoulder down the left and darts beyond a static Joe Worrall for West Brom.

He does well to look up and pick out a team-mate, with full-back Furlong lurking in the box but his swivelling effort flies harmlessly high and wide.

Poor.

Heart in mouth moment for Forest!

West Brom steam down the left and send in a cross which Gaetan Bong turns, stoops and heads back towards his own goal.

It barely has the required distance on it, but thankfully for Bong and Forest, Brice Samba swoops in to gather.

What a season Dom Telford is having!

The striker has just put Newport in front in this League Two encounter with a superb curling effort into the top corner.

He's now scored in SEVEN successive league games and has 14 for the campaign in all competitions. Remarkable.

Callum Robinson's movement causes Forest problems as he wafts about the edge of the box dangerously.

It looks like he's away but the referee's assistant's flag juts out to signify offside against the West Brom man.

Cedric Kipre just can't get his feet to work as fast as his brain as he canters into the box to meet a free-kick, and the Baggies man's touch goes through to Brice Samba.

Valerien Ismael will be satisfied at the moment, his side are the more dominant.

While Steve Cooper is up and about on his technical area with a slightly pensive facial expression, his Forest unit has done a good job of soaking up pressure.

There are a few late challenges flying in at the moment, with Forest stopper Joe Worrall the latest (pardon the pun) to leave an imprint on Karlan Grant's shin.

Gavin Ward has dishing out the yellows too. Worrall in the book.

Ged Scott
BBC Sport at The Hawthorns

It's a truly unpleasant night in the Black Country, with the rain teeming down in near sub-zero temperatures.

But not as unpleasant as Nottingham Forest's strip, well to my eye at least, that is.

Image source, Getty Images

The first time I saw Forest here in September 1979, Cloughie's great team won 5-1, clad in red and white, and almost reduced my Albion supporting mate Simmo to tears.

Tonight they've rocked up in West Bromwich looking like confused council workmen in a combination of luminous yellow and orange, with socks to match. I expect my 18-year-old year son will be raving about it. But, not for me, George!

Brice Samba saves Nottingham Forest, as he dives low to block a low Grady Diangana drive for West Bromwich Albion.

It came from a quick free-kick which put the Baggies in behind the Forest defence, but Samba was strong-armed to beat away and the Reds cleared after a scramble.

Conor Townsend sets his sights from 25 yards with Forest swarming back to cover, but his shot rises over the top for West Brom.

They've enjoyed the better possession, but Forest's blanket defence is proving effective.