Nottingham Forest 3-0 Barnsley: Reds brush aside depleted Tykes

Nottingham Forest chalked up a fourth straight win as they cruised past the Championship's depleted bottom side Barnsley at the City Ground.

Ryan Yates tapped in Brennan Johnson's cross after neat Forest build-up to make it 2-0 at the break.

A fine driving run from Djed Spence and pullback then teed up Johnson who stroked a finish across Collins and into the far corner to wrap up the win.

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Bottom side Barnsley, without a win in 10 league matches, reported just 12 players fit for training on Monday and made the trip to the East Midlands without head coach Poya Asbaghi who was displaying Covid-19 symptoms.

And they were soon on the defensive as Forest defender Steve Cook headed just wide before Tykes captain Andersen gifted Aston Villa loanee Davis his first goal for Forest.

Callum Styles saw a first-time effort cleared off the line as the Tykes almost levelled, but it was firmly against the run of play.

James Garner skewed a shot just wide and Collins palmed a Yates header over the bar before the midfielder doubled the lead a moment later.

Forest were in cruise control after the break with Spence, a reported January target for Premier League clubs, impressing to set up Johnson's seventh goal of the season and then teeing up Xande Silva whose powerful strike smacked a post.

A sixth win in eight league matches lifts Forest within a point of the play-off places in seventh, while Barnsley remain eight points from safety after a 14th defeat in their last 18 league matches.

Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper told BBC Radio Nottingham:

"I enjoyed the goals, we should have scored a couple more, I didn't love the performance, particularly in the second half.

"We're a much better team than what we showed so in some ways the result and the performance didn't really match up.

"We're trying to raise standards in every part of the club and that includes the team on the pitch and if I feel they fall a bit short then I'll say it.

"I don't want to sound too negative, there were some really good things today, 3-0 great, but we've got to keep working hard to progress."

Barnsley assistant coach Ferran Sibila:

"We had a lot of players missing and out of position, but we still had a plan and, before they scored, we showed the belief was there.

"I was really pleased with the performance up to the point when we had that unfortunate situation with Mads, who is a fantastic player who I admire for the way he trains and plays. But we gave that first goal to them and it changed the game.

"The belief went down after that and, while we have looked at the running stats and they show that the commitment was still there, the performance was not good enough."