Football: Forest's final flourish

Nottingham Forest 1 Leicester City

NOTTINGHAM FOREST may be going down but at least they finished with the brief spell in the Premiership with a flourish, collecting a third successive victory, by beating their East Midlands rivals, Leicester City, at the City Ground.

Some relief at least then for long-suffering Forest fans and victory allowed Ron Atkinson to end his 28 years in management on a high note. Forest's victory was sealed by a deflected 75th-minute effort from Chris Bart-Williams but they rode their luck in the second half. Leicester twice hit the woodwork and were denied on two more occasions by goalline clearances as Leicester sought an equaliser.

But Forest held on - much to the pleasure of supporters who had seen their side go more than eight months without a home league win and then win two successive games.

Bart-Williams' winner came after the Portuguese international Hugo Porfirio had a shot blocked. Bart-Williams hit the rebound on goal and it took a deflection on its way into the net.

Goal: Bart-Williams (75) 1-0.

Nottingham Forest: Crossley; Louis-Jean, Palmer, Chettle, Bonalair, Porfirio (Edwards, 89), Bart-Williams, Melton, Rogers, Freedman, Harewood. Substitutes not used: Beasant (gk), Lyttle, Allou, Darcheville.

Leicester City: Arphexad; Kaamark, Elliott, Sinclair (Walsh, 70), Zagorakis, Lennon, Oakes (Heskey, 50), Savage, Guppy, Cottee, Izzet. Substitutes not used: Keller (gk), Impey, Fenton.

Bookings: Nottingham Forest: Bonalair, Porfirio.

Referee: S Dunn (Bristol).

Attendance: 25,353.

Man of the match: