SURR-GE TO PROMOTION
Forest aim to pick off Cherries
ON-FIRE Nottingham Forest set themselves up to snatch automatic promotion from the grasp of Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
Manager Steve Cooper, players and coaching staff grouped on the pitch after this stunning victory and said their thank-yous to the home fans.
It might be goodbye to the Championship too if Forest win at Bournemouth and follow that with a victory at Hull in the last game of the league season on Sunday.
Forest were scorching as Sam Surridge got a secondhalf hat-trick and Swansea were torn to pieces.
And Cooper claimed could have been more.
“We could have had five goals by half-time,” said Cooper. And he wasn’t wrong.
Forest are now three points behind long-time promotion favourites Bournemouth and a goal better off.
A win on Tuesday and they go second behind Fulham with one game to play.
Who would have thought that when Cooper took over with Forest bottom of the Championship in October?
The brief from millionaire Greek owner Evangelos
Marinakis was to stay up. Now, 36 Championship games later and Cooper has won 22 of them and lost only six.
“A brilliant win for us. It went to plan,” said Cooper who took Swansea to the play-offs and then the play-off final a year ago when they lost to Brentford.
“We went in at half-time 1-1 and I challenged my players to step up, keep playing the way we were, keep to the plan, but get the goals.”
Swansea keeper Andy Fisher made save after save, and all Forest had to show in the first half was a bizarre Cyrus Christie own goal.
Jack Colback forced the ball in after 22 minutes but referee Graham Scott awarded a penalty and sent off Christie for handball.
Scott’s goal-line technology watch must be on the blink because fourth official Oliver Langford got involved and said the ball was over the line before Christie hooked it back with his hand.
Scott’s rethink resulted in a yellow card for Christie.
Swansea equalised in the 28th minute, Michael Obafemi scoring a skilful goal. But Forest roared in four more.
Surridge’s hat-trick came with a 48th-minute header from James Garner’s corner, a wonderful flighted shot into the top corner four minutes later and the last one bashed in after Djed Spence hit the bar with a cross.
Sub Alex Mighten finished it off when he muscled his way through to score.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Samba 6; Worrall 8, Cook 8, McKenna 8; Spence 8, Yates 8, Garner 8, Colback 8 (Laryea 82nd); Zinckernagel 8 (Lolley (70th) 5); Johnson 7, Surridge 9 (Mighten 77th)
SWANSEA: Fisher 8; Latibeaudiere 5, Naughton 5, Manning 5 (Ntcham (57th) 4); Congreve 5 (Paterson (57th) 4), Downes 5, Grimes 5; Christie 6, Piroe 4 (Fulton 78th), Wolf 5; Obafemi 6
STAR MAN: Sam Surridge
REF: G Scott