Barnsley still goalless on the road after Forest defeat

The only goal of the game came from the home side’s only shot on target, as on the 56-minute mark Ben Watson ended a Forest counter attack by rifling the ball home from Matty Cash’s cut-back from the right.

Barnsley still haven’t scored on the road so far this season – the only team in the top seven leagues to have that unfortunate title – but they didn’t let that stop them trying as Luke Thomas, Mallik Wilks and Patrick Schmidt all went close.

The hosts had the better of the opening exchanges, with two early chances.On the eighth minute, striker Lewis Grabban – Forest’s top scorer with four in seven – scuffed his attempt following a cross from Joao Carvalho.

Joe Lolley attempted to follow up, but some good defending from Mads Andersen stopped the midfielder getting a shot off.

Less than a minute later, Forest were back on the attack and a free kick taken by Tiago Silva was met by centre-back Joe Worrall, whose volley was hit wide of the target.

The Reds then enjoyed a spell of pressure, with a quick succession of corners nearly seeing Aapo Halme get his head to Alex Mowatt’s in-swinging delivery, but the Finn’s effort was deflected out.

Forest played with the confidence of a team who haven’t lost since opening day, and they were handed the best two chances of the first half – both of which also fell to their star striker.

Grabban twice broke a lacklustre offside trap and will be wondering how he didn’t convert on at least one of those occasions.

The first was, admittedly, down to the forward’s lack of focus as he dragged the ball wide of the left post on the 25^th minute. Ben Watson, who later scored with Forest’s only shot on target, fired a low through ball forward from just in front of the Forest centre-backs.

The ball bypassed the Reds backline completely and allowed Grabban to advance on goal, but he somehow missed.

While Brad Collins will have been relieved at that, the young ‘keeper was a much more active participant in the second opportunity for Grabban to grab the first goal of the game.

The forward latched onto Silva’s cute reverse pass and again broke the offside trap in the 37^th minute – but by the time he’d controlled the ball Collins was already sweeping it away from under him with a brilliantly read charge off of his line.

Barnsley can admit to only one clear-cut chance in the first half, at 44 minutes.

Picking up a loose ball in the centre of the pitch, Luke Thomas motored towards the Forest backline and – with Mallik Wilks providing a dummy run into the box – switched the ball onto his weaker right foot. His powerful effort was well saved by Brice Samba.

The Reds came out the better of the two sides after the break, but as they advanced forward Forest simply soaked up the pressure – hitting the visitors on the break with fast, direct play.

Despite their lack of goals, Barnsley’s away performances continue to improve – after conceding they pushed further forward, Thomas going close with a powerful effort on the 81^st minute and then league debutant Schmidt glancing a header wide seconds later.

Mallik Wilks also had a good chance on the 88th minute, when he turned Joe Worrall and had his shot blocked by Michael Dawson.

While this result stretches Barnsley’s winless streak to eight games, they can again be heartened by a battling performance – but they will want to start turning those performances into points.