Keinan Davis double leads Nottingham Forest’s rout of Reading

Nottingham Forest made sure it is not only Liverpool they have in their sights, in next Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final, but the Championship’s play-off places as well as Keinan Davis’s two goals took them within two points of the top six.

The striker, on loan from Aston Villa, set Forest on their way by scoring after 17 seconds, with their quickest league goal since Jack Lester in 2020, and effectively sealed Reading’s third successive defeat with another midway through the second half. Ryan Yates and Sam Surridge embellished what turned into a comfortable win.

Reading’s buffer from the relegation zone is now down to four points and while they threatened briefly in the latter part of the first half, they were grateful Barnsley below them were pegged back by Fulham.

Straight from kick-off, Davis, back in the starting lineup, was granted both space and time to collect Djed Spence’s pass from the right, he then turned and rifled in his third goal since January.

With only two wins in 16 games, Reading’s confidence could have been on the floor. Instead, they gradually earned a foothold in the game, with Tom Ince increasingly prominent as he roamed in from the right wing.

Indeed, Forest started to look nervy, even though they had twice as much possession, as goalkeeper Ethan Horvath had to save, at pointblank range, from Michael Morrison and, shortly before half-time, Yakou Méïté stormed in to head narrowly wide of the far post after brilliant work by Ince down the left wing.

Forest had to reshuffle four minutes before half-time as Max Lowe went off injured. Jack Colback went across to left wing-back, the excellent James Garner dropped into central midfield and Cafú came on behind the front two of Davis and Brennan Johnson.

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