Nottingham Forest Under-23s player ratings vs Wolves: Panzo shines as Swan scores

Nottingham Forest moved into the Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off spots thanks to a 1-0 win over Wolves at Meadow Lane.

In a meeting between two of the league’s most in-form teams, it was perhaps rather suitable that those in attendance were spectators to a positive display of attacking football from either side.

Will Swan’s instinctive finish during first-half stoppage time proved to be the winning strike but he could have quite easily had more to his name.

Forest started the brighter of the two teams and had two early forays forward as they looked to set a high tempo to the game.

The first came when Jonathan Panzo pushed out from his central defensive position before sliding a pass for Julian Larsson to latch onto. The Swedish attacking midfielder looked up when he reached the penalty area but was unable to direct his looping cross towards a team-mate.

They came closest to scoring on 14 minutes though. Aaron Donnelly was given space on the edge of the opposition box to deliver a curling cross into the six-yard box; Larsson stepped ahead of his marker to meet the ball but glanced a header past the post.

Andy Reid’s side continued to dominate in the middle and final thirds but just could not find a way past Jamie Pardington.

A brilliant touch from Larsson allowed him to drift central from the left-wing before passing inside to Swan. The 20-year-old striker immediately shot low into an opposition defender and rebound was tucked into Pardington’s grateful arms by Larsson.

Josh Barnes followed Panzo into referee Robert Whitton’s in a high-tempo five minutes as both committed reckless fouls.

Wolves had to wait until 35 minutes before having their first real chance on-goal but even then it was a comfortable task for