Bolton 0-3 Nottingham Forest: Lewis Grabban puts penalty miss behind him to net late brace after Joe Lolley’s first-half opener
- Joe Lolley opened the scoring for Nottingham Forest against Bolton Wanderers
- Aitor Karanka’s side failed to double their lead early in the second with a penalty
- Lewis Grabban assumed responsibility but his effort was saved by Jan Alnwick
- But the striker did hit a late brace to put the result beyond any doubt for Forest
Aitor Karanka saw the swift response he needed from his Nottingham Forest players after the visit of owner Evangelos Marinakis to the City Ground.
But Lewis Grabban’s third penalty miss of the season left the Forest boss facing a potentially anxious finale as he looked to return to winning ways.
The striker saw his low penalty effort well saved by Ben Alnwick on 55 minutes after he had won the spot kick himself, following a trip by Mark Little.
Lewis Grabban scored twice as Nottingham Forest eased aside Bolton on Wednesday night
The striker had seen a second half penalty saved with the game in the balance still at 1-0
The former Norwich and Bournemouth striker assumed responsibility but saw it saved
Aitor Karanka’s side took the lead early at the Macron through Joe Lolley who converted well
At least Grabban would go on to make amends, 10 minutes later, when he chased on to Joao Carvalho’s excellent through ball and lobbed a precise finish over the Bolton keeper.
Greek millionaire Marinakis visited his club for the first time this season for two days at the start of the week after Forest’s disappointing weekend home loss to Norwich.
But his side took just 12 minutes to race into the lead at Bolton with an opening goal that had promotion potential written all over it.
MATCH FACTS AND LEAGUE TABLE
Bolton: Alnwick, Little, Wheater, Hobbs, Taylor (Doidge 75), Williams, Lowe (Oztumerat 69), Noone, Vela, Wildschut (Donaldson 45), Magennis
Subs not used: Murphy, Wilson, Matthews, Dyer.
Booked: Lowe
Nottingham Forest: Pantilimon, Darikwa, Pereira Figueiredo, Dawson, Robinson, Colback, Guedioura, Bastiao Dias (Cash 68), Antunes Carvalho (Soudani 80), Lolley (Osborn 86), Grabban.
Subs not used: Watson, Steele, Janko, Hefele.
Goals: Lolley (12), Grabban (64, 83)
Booked: Pereira Figueiredo, Antunes Carvalho
Referee: Andy Davies
Attendance: 13,195
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Bolton’s players mobbed goalkeeper Jan Alnwick after his heroic penalty save but it was in vein
Joe Lolley and Grabban played a one-two as Forest launched a devastating, four-on-four counter-attack.
And Lolley completed the impressive break with a ferocious shot from just inside the Bolton area.
Gil Dias had spurned a glorious opening after 40 seconds, taking too long to shot as he chased a magnificent through ball from Carvalho.
Karanka and his players were in desperate need of a victory to lift the pressure on them
Forest were slick and clinical as they sent a message to their critics with a smart away win
And, just after Lolley forced an important save out of Alnwick, Bolton finally carved out their first chance with a set-piece header from Josh Magennis that was comfortably cleared.
Amazingly, seven minutes from time, Forest won another penalty when Alnwick tripped Grabban as he attempted to round him.
And, equally amazingly, Grabban strode up again and this time converted the spot kick into the same corner of the Bolton goal.
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