Colback’s stunning ‘fluke’ goal highlights dominant Forest win over Semi Ajayi’s WBA

Three first-half goals and a late one in the second half saw Nottingham Forest take a step closer to cementing a place in the Championship playoffs.

The commentator for the game described Jack Colback’s stunning strike as a ‘fluke’ but whether he meant it or not, Nottingham Forest and their fans won’t care about they enhanced their promotion credentials with an easy win.

A blistering opening 45 minutes saw the host race into a comfortable 3-0 leading heading into the break.

Manchester United loanee, James Garner was at the heart of everything good for Forest, winning the penalty that led to the opener scored by the brilliant 20-year-old, Brennan Johnson.

Then, Garner whipped in a perfect corner kick in the 23rd minute that Ryan Yates superbly headed in to double their advantage.

And the best of the night, Jack Colback completed the first-half rout with what is a goal of the season contender to make it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time.

In the second half, the visitors defended better and restricted the rampant Forest attack led by the youngster, Johnson, who had already scored one and assisted another in the game.

WBA did a better in the second half but just when they thought they had done enough to leave with a respectable scoreline, Nottingham Forest added the icing on the cake.

Sam Surridge was played through by Philip Zinckernagel and the forward made no mistakes to roof in the fourth goal of the game to finish off a brilliant day’s job.

With the result, Forest are now within a touching distance of an automatic promotion spot after closing the gap between them and the top two, Fulham and Bournemouth.

Forest sit fifth on the table with 70 points, seven adrift of Bournemouth, who occupy the last automatic spot.

However, they have now put some daylight between them and the chasing pack of Sheffield United and Millwall, who are also in the race for the playoffs.