Ipswich Town fell to their sixth defeat of the Premier League season as they were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
A combative first half was open and well-balanced, but the hosts were awarded a penalty just a few minutes after the restart, which Chris Wood converted. From there, the Blues were unable to turn the momentum and test their opponents, falling to a narrow defeat on the road.
Forest won an early corner as Jota Silva picked up a ball down the right and charged into the final third, with Leif Davis knocking it out of play. Elliot Anderson’s delivery met the head of Morgan Gibbs-White, who directed it into the side netting – an early scare for the visitors.
Ipswich first ventured out of their own half in the fifth minute as Cameron Burgess played a ball over the top to Davis, who cut inside and set-up Liam Delap. The in-form striker turned to beat a defender before firing a deflected shot out for a corner, which Dara O’Shea came close to before the Reds could clear.
The ball ended up at Jota, who was brought down by Axel Tuanzebe on the counter for the first booking of the game. Forest played it back before Neco Williams delivered a cross-field ball from the right to Callum Hudson-Odoi, who cut inside and fired at a defender.
The ball came back out to Ryan Yates, who rifled a shot at goal that Sammie Szmodics cleared off the line.
After a nervy start, Ipswich quickly settled. A succession of corners – four inside the opening 15 minutes of the game – gave them a chance to test Matz Sels, but while Davis’ deliveries were accurate, Forest were able to deal with the threat.
A fifth came in the 24th minute, and Town were clearly away that they had to make one count sooner or later. Davis’ ball into the box found the head of Burgess, who tried to flick it into the bottom corner where Ola Aina cleared off the line.
Forest, having been frustrated by minor decisions going against them, launched forward. Hudson-Odoi’s cross found the head of Jota in the 27th minute, but he couldn’t test Arijanet Muric as his effort floated behind for a goal kick.
They came again a few seconds later, with the Kosovo international holding Gibbs-White’s low effort. Forest were beginning to turn momentum and had an opportunity to get the ball in the box on the half-hour mark after O’Shea brought down Anderson on the edge of the box before Conor Chaplin was booked for complaining.
Neco Williams fired it at Muric with power, but it was a comfortable save for the goalkeeper.
A stoppage in play saw Ipswich receive a dropped ball, which they played out to Davis on the left. He, in turn, cut in and set up Hutchinson down the right, who fizzed the ball back into the middle for Chaplin. However, Delap thought the ball was intended for him and took it off his team-mate just as he was about to strike it, losing possession as Forest launched a counter.
Sam Morsy narrowly avoided a yellow card in the 35th minute after committing a foul on the edge of the area. Williams went for a similar strike from almost the same area, but couldn’t hit the target.
The skipper was even luckier to avoid a fifth booking of the season when first-half stoppage time was announced as he was involved in a tussle with Anderson on the left again, giving away another near-identical free-kick. Instead of going for goal, Williams floated it into the box, but Ipswich cleared the danger.
More of the same would've worked well for the Blues after the break, but they fell behind four minutes into the second half as Chaplin gave the ball away in midfield. Jens Cajuste stepped in to make a tackle but could only slow down Forest's attack before Szmodics stuck out a leg and brought down Jota inside the box.
Striker Chris Wood stepped up and smashed a shot through the middle as Muric dived to his right, putting the hosts ahead.
It was Muric, however, who prevented Ipswich from going further behind just five minutes later. An overhit corner was dinked back into the danger zone by Jota, with Murillo forcing the 26-year-old to push his powerful header off the bar and then away from danger from close range.
Forest continued to put the visitors under pressure. Anderson's corner almost dipped straight into Muric's net and forced him to punch it out before Burgess could head Yates' rebound back out for a second corner, which was cleared.
Jack Clarke was introduced shortly after the hour-mark, but his first action was to give the ball away with a blocked shot as the Reds countered. A threaded pass to Wood saw Cajuste tackle him in the box, making more contact with the striker than the ball, but referee Tony Harrington opted against giving a second spot-kick.
The former Sunderland winger was involved once again as he received the ball just inside the box, curling a tame shot at Sels - Town's first effort on target of the second half.
A triple substitution from Forest preceded a double change from Town, with Nathan Broadhead coming on for his first Premier League minutes of the season as the no.10.
With five minutes to go, the hosts dropped deeper and Ipswich enjoyed more time on the ball, but they failed to pick the lock and find a way to test Sels. In the end, the Reds ended up in control as the Blues ran out of time, falling to their first defeat in November.
Nottingham Forest XI: 4-2-3-1: Sels; Williams (Moreno 77'), Milenkovic, Murillo, Aina; Yates, Anderson (Dominguez 72'); Jota (Elanga 77'), Gibbs-White (Morato 78'), Hudson-Odoi; Wood
Town XI: 4-2-3-1: Muric; Tuanzebe (H. Clarke 79'), O’Shea, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Cajuste Taylor 74'); Hutchinson (Broadhead 79'), Chaplin (Burns 74'), Szmodics (J. Clarke 64;); Delap
Attendance: 30,237
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