Nottingham Forest were looking to build on a positive result after a 1-1 draw with Derby County last Friday night. Chris Hughton’s side won their last game at The City Ground when youth product Alex Mighten scored the only goal of the game.
Luton Town travelled up the M1 to Nottingham with confidence after picking up seven points out of their last 15. Their most recent outing was a 3-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road.
Story of the game
Glen Murray had a golden opportunity to grab his third goal for Forest inside five minutes. Anthony Knockaert whipped in an inviting cross, but the effort was tame and lacked power.
The pressure from Forest was telling once Cyrus Christie aimed for the spectacular inside 20 minutes. The hosts had dominated the early possession with the right-back seeing a lot of the ball.
After the display from Knockaert against Derby, Forest were opting for their right flank when attacking.
Joe Lolley had been out of favour in recent weeks, but a clever free kick almost saw the breakthrough.
Knockaert played a wide set piece on the edge of the box to Lolley, who forced Simon Sluga into a parry which was not convincing. Danger was cleared and Luton escaped another half chance from Forest.
Half time approached and it was a dull affair on Trent side. Forest swapped their wingers in aid to cause a different approach, but they had one idea.
Find Murray in the box. The former Brighton and Hove Albion striker will be disappointed to not have scored in the first half after a volley from close range and that header inside five minutes.
Second half
It was a flat start to the latter half, which indicated that there may be changes sooner rather than later. The latest attack was a short corner from Forest, which lacked any real strength.
A sign of an underperforming team who were languished in the bottom half of the table with only 28 goals scored all season.
The hour mark passed and both sides had good chances to find the breakthrough. James Garner forced Sluga into a low save before Elijah Adebayo fired a tame effort into the gloves of Brice Samba.
Luton made it 1-0 completely against the run of play 64 minutes in. Ryan Tunnicliffe made it two in two after edging Infront of Samba to poke it home.
Forest replied after making two changes, instantly. Sammy Ameobi and Lyle Taylor were introduced to add more threat and power upfront.
The goal had set the hosts back but it was important they kept a foothold. They had all the chances but lacked the final piece of the jigsaw in finding the back of the net.
Jordan Clark went inches away from making it 2-0 with around 17 minutes left on the clock. The Luton man was left with hands on his head after a right-footed effort curled away from the far corner.
Forest knocked on the door but the Luton goal remained unharmed. A fantastic victory for Nathan Jones' side who now have back to back wins.
Two in two for Tunnicliffe
The former Manchester United academy product failed to break into the first team whilst still a youngster.
He signed for Luton Town in 2019 with an aim to keep the Hatters in the Championship.
Scoring against Forest meant he had scored two in two and his side gained back to back wins in the league for the first time since September.