McKay hits the Mark as Forest fire
NOTTINGHAM FOREST eased the pressure on manager Mark Warburton by edging past a spirited Burton side with second-half goals from Barrie McKay and Eric Lichaj.
The hosts had suffered four defeats in their previous five Championship outings but put in a battling performance to leave the Brewers still stranded in the bottom three.
Burton boss Nigel Clough has been heavily linked to the Forest job in recent weeks and he won the tactical battle in the first half as his team cancelled out the home side’s attacking threat.
The Brewers were also a threat on the counter-attack, with Lichaj clearing off the line to deny Lloyd Dyer, while Jake Buxton prodded an effort narrowly wide.
And those wasted chances proved costly as Forest took a 58th-minute lead.
Veteran keeper Stephen Bywater’s poor punch fell straight into the path of McKay, who lifted an accurate finish high into the corner.
Bywater made amends two minutes later to stop a Ben Osborn effort but Burton’s defence was breached again with 12 minutes to play.
A flowing passing move ended with McKay flicking the ball towards rampaging right-back Lichaj, who skipped through and produced a neat left-foot finish to clinch a morale boosting win.
Forest boss Warburton said: “The message at half-time was just to play our game, because the crowd were getting restless.
“Burton have collected three goalless draws in recent weeks, away at very good venues, so we knew the side we would face.
“All we needed to do was change the tempo and we saw that in the second half, when we were much better.”
Former Forest star Clough was left to rue his team’s missed chances.
He said: “Results normally come down to what you do in both penalty areas and at the moment we are not good enough in either of them.
“We had chances to win the game in the first half. Had we got the goal, it might have been enough.”