Sloppy Forest punished as John error seals defeat

NOTTINGHAM

- By SARAH CLAPSON

Forest suffered a fourth straight defeat as they were beaten 3-1 by Aston Villa at Villa Park.Not since 1994 had Forest triumphed at Villa Park and they made the trip to the West Midlands this time on the back of three straight Premier League defeats.

If the task ahead of Sean Dyche's side wasn't challenging enough, they almost stitched themselves up with an error inside the opening couple of minutes. Goalkeeper John Victor came to his team's rescue, denying Ollie Watkins with his legs after a mistake from Neco Williams had presented the Villa man with an opportunity.

Still, it set the tone as the Reds spent much of the opening 30 minutes on the back foot.

They struggled to see much of the ball and barely made it beyond the halfway line.

For all their possession and pressure, though, Villa didn't create too many chances and the visitors almost bagged the opener against the run of play. Omari Hutchinson was thwarted by Emi Martinez on the half-hour after cutting inside and trying his luck.