NOTTINGHAM: Nottingham Forest missed out on a chance to move into the top three in the Prem­ier League, and strengthen hopes of a Champions League berth next season, as Brentford upset them 2-0 in their Premier League clash on Thursday.

Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa both finished at the end of long clearances from deep in their own half to ensure a surprise away win that keeps alive keep Brentford’s own ambitions of competing in European club competition next season.

Schade ran onto a long ball from Nathan Collins and took advantage of a defensive slip to open the scoring in the 44th minute while Wissa added the sec­ond in similar circumstances with 20 minutes left as he finished off goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s long punt.

The result kept Forest in sixth place on 60 points while Brentford advanced to 49 points. They remained in 11th place but are now only two points behind eighth placed Fulham.

“It is a big strength that we go to a difficult place against a team who have been fantastic all season,” Brentford boss Thomas Frank told the BBC. “I think everything is possible. There are four games left. We’ll try out best to win them.”

Hesitation in defence proved Forests undoing with both goals simple in their set up but reliant on the home sides usually tight defence being caught cold.

Collins hit the ball some 60 yards up the pitch in search of Schade and, as Forests usually reliable defender Nikola Milenkovic hesitated and fullback Ola Aina slipped, the German attacker took advantage to score.

The second goal came as Forest allowed Flek­kens long kick to bounce though for Wissa to get goal side of Milenkovic and hold off the defender to score.

Brentford had made a bright start to the game and came close to an opener after 18 minutes when Mikkel Damsgaard’s free kick found Sepp van den Berg, who had a free header on goal from close range but was denied as Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels palmed away the effort.

Forest, who lost in the FA Cup semi-final at the weekend, then dominated exchanges and put Brent­ford under pressure for the rest of the half but without creating any clear cut chances, before being cau­ght cold as Brentford netted just before the break.

As rain lashed down at the start of the second half, Forest went back onto the offensive with Anthony Elanga’s 54th minute shot forcing a full stretch stop from Flekken while top scorer Chris Wood had his first chance of the game in the 64th minute but put his header well wide.

“It’s a bad night and a bad game,” Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo told Sky Sports. “I’m not really worried about the table, more how to correct the mistakes.”

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2025