MARTIN O’NEILL’S NOTTINGHAM Forest lost ground in their quest for the Championship play-offs with a late draw away to West Brom. Forest looked as if they were heading for an impressive 2-1 win at the Hawthorns until the 89th minute, when Dwight Gayle was brought down in the penalty area. Jay Rodriguez converted to leave Forest with frustrated.
They led as early as the sixth minute through a Stefan Johansen own goal, but were pegged back nine minutes into the second-half with Jacob Murphy’s first goal for the Baggies. They led again through Ryan Yeats nine minutes later, and looked to be heading for victory until Rodriguez’ late intervention.
Wes Hoolahan played the final 20 minutes for the Baggies.
The result means Forest have lost ground on Bristol City, who occupied the sixth and final play-off spot at the start of play. They secured a late 2-1 win at home to QPR, with a last-minute Famara Diédhiou penalty completing a comeback from Matt Smith’s 45th minute goal.
Bristol are now up to fifth, leaving Forest in 9th, five points from sixth-placed Middlesbrough.
‘Boro, however, along with seventh-placed Derby County, have two games in hand.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Bolton shocked play-off-chasing Birmingham 1-0; Hull City and Rotherham shared a 2-2 draw; and Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday drew 0-0.
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