Town fall to Johnno's double strike

Nottingham Forest 2 Ipswich Town 1

It seemed almost inevitable that it would be David Johnson – the league's top scorer and ex-Ipswich golden boy – who would score both Forest's goals against his old club.

It took just four and a half minutes for Forest's breakthrough to come. Coming directly from an Ipswich corner, Ward's long clearance fell to Johnson, who headed easily over Gerrard to score.

But for the rest of the first half, Ipswich looked the stronger team. On 11 minutes Clapham's shot forced Ward to make a good save, and eleven minutes later Bent's header from twelve yards only just went wide of the Forest post.

Forest were playing a cautious game, with most of their possession in defence. They did not go all out to attack, and instead hoped to catch Town on the break. Forest's narrow defence was consistently foiled by Town's two wingbacks, Clapham and Hreidarsson, but all the Ipswich possession failed to make its mark and Town went into the break one goal down.

Ipswich came out for the second half looking focused and ready to make the breakthrough. Forest, by contrast still seemed only focused on defence.

Ipswich came close to an equaliser on 61 as Holland's shot skimmed wide of the post. However, just two minutes later Clapham's pass went astray and straight to David Johnson, who made it two against his old club.

While Town reeled from this goal, very much against the run of play, Forest tried to push home their advantage. Another mistake by Clapham put Harewood through, but he sends his shot wide.

Ipswich regrouped and continued to push forward. On 71 Ambrose's excellent strike rebounded off the inside of the Forest post. Wright replaced Hreidarsson, as Royle made his last change to try and turn the game around. However, immediately after this Magilton went down injured, and both he and McGreal looked as though they were playing with injuries for the remainder of the match.

In the final ten minutes, Ipswich went all out for that elusive goal as a hectic last period began. On 88 Ipswich the goal finally came as a scramble in the box saw the ball hit the back of the Forest net, credited as an own goal to Gareth Williams. Almost immediately afterwards, Prutton's foul brought him a second yellow card that saw him sent off. Ipswich stepped up their attack again.

But it was too little too late as Town only had stoppage time to push for an equaliser. In the end it was Johnson's quick reactions that told the story, and despite looking the better side, Town once again finished the game without a point. Losing to the team sitting third in the table should not be too unexpected for an Ipswich that has consistently underachieved all season. But Ipswich must feel disappointed that their recent run of form has come to an end and that once again they couldn't convert possession into points.