Forest points famine continues

Nottingham Forest 0 West Ham 2

Marlon Harewood returned to haunt Nottingham Forest as he scored the opening goal for West Ham in a deserved victory at the City Ground.

The script was written for the striker, who joined the Hammers for £500,000 (€712,963) in November, and he took just seven minutes to make an impact, rounding off a flowing move involving Matthew Etherington and Jermain Defoe.

It was his fourth goal for West Ham but his 16th of the campaign after scoring 12 for Paul Hart’s men earlier this season.

Defoe, who is still waiting to hear if he will miss the Londoners’ next five games through suspension, sealed a comfortable win with his 15th goal of the season six minutes from time.

The opening goal came from the visitors’ first noteworthy attack.

Andy Reid gave the ball away in the centre circle, allowing Etherington to burst forward. His cross from the left was headed goalwards by Defoe, and Harewood slid in to poke the ball past Darren Ward.

Forest, who had looked lively in the opening exchanges, spurned two quick-fire chances to level.

Reid made amends for his earlier error by playing a defence-splitting pass to Marlon King but the striker, who was signed as a replacement for Harewood, showed too much of the ball to David James.

Ireland international Reid was the architect again two minutes later as he sent Gareth Taylor clear but the forward was leaning back as he let fly from 20 yards and the ball sailed over the crossbar.

The Hammers almost doubled their advantage from their next flowing attack. Harewood broke to the byline and drilled a low, inviting cross for Defoe, who hit the ball sweetly but straight at Ward who palmed to safety.

The quality shown in the first half was lacking at the start of the second, with both sides struggling to create chances.

Reid curled a free-kick high and wide in the 62nd minute, while at the other end, David Connolly cut inside John Thompson before trying his luck with a rising drive which Ward tipped over.

With time ticking away, Alan Pardew’s side looked comfortable and could have added a second when Harewood found Mullins with space in the area, but his shot was pushed wide by Ward.

Forest pushed forward in search of an equaliser, and Defoe almost exploited the gaps in defence, but despite his trickery creating room for a shot, Ward was equal to his effort.

However, the England Under-21 international did get his name on the scoresheet for the sixth time in six games in the 84th minute.

He latched on to a hopeful punt upfield from Tomas Repka, beat Michael Dawson and lashed the ball past Ward to seal West Ham’s first away win in seven games and extend Forest’s winless run to 10 games.