Nottingham Forest bounced back from two straight defeats in confident fashion as goals from Lewis Grabban and Sammy Ameobi saw them defeat struggling Luton 2-1 at Kenilworth Road.
Having dropped out of the top two following defeats to Wigan and Hull, Sabri Lamouchi’s side showed little sign of letting that affect them as they dominated for long periods.
The visitors missed a wonderful opportunity in the 12th minute as they sliced open the Town defence, Grabban firing wildly wide from 12 yards when he should have hit the target at least.
Town had a goal disallowed in the 23rd minute, when Dan Potts converted at the second attempt at the far post only to be flagged offside.
Grabban did not miss by much from 20 yards, his daisy-cutter skimming a post, while Luton’s best efforts came from range, James Collins shooting straight at Brice Samba and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu hammering over the bar.
An injury to Town’s most creative outlet Izzy Brown saw him replaced by Kazenga LuaLua on the half hour, as Forest were in front after 39 minutes.
Home defenders Sonny Bradley and James Bree got in each other’s way going for a long ball and Grabban went through to easily beat Shea for his sixth of the season.
After the break, the visitors continued to dominate, Joe Lolley ghosting in at the far post to miss the target with his header.
Ben Watson’s radar was well off from distance, before Forest did have a second to virtually kill their opponents off.
Lolley escaped on the right and found Ameobi at the far post, who was given time to turn, his deflected effort beating Shea to double Forest’s advantage.
Ameobi looked for his second, Shea saving from 25 yards, before Town tried to mount a fightback in the latter stages.
First LuaLua’s shot was parried behind by Samba, before Forest were saved by the offside flag once more, Collins heading in from Pearson’s flick across goal only to be adjudged offside.
With three minutes left, Luton sub Callum McManaman gave his side a sniff, taking LuaLua’s pass to wriggle free superbly and then beat Samba with an excellent bending effort.
Town finally came alive in the closing stages, LuaLua going for goal from 25 yards, not missing by much, while a late corner caused a brief moment of havoc.
Forest held on, as the hosts suffered their third successive defeat.
