Harewood deepens misery for Gregory

Nottingham Forest 3 Derby County

Rampant Forest could have doubled this score after thoroughly outplaying Derby in front of a near-30,000 crowd at the City Ground, inflicting on their East Midlands rivals a sixth defeat in eight matches and increasing the pressure on their under-fire manager, John Gregory.

Two early goals in quick succession put the home side in control, after which Derby were fortunate to concede only one more as Forest, who moved back into fifth place in the First Division, threatened to over-run the visitors.

"It's been a difficult week for us, but we bounced back," the Forest manager, Paul Hart, said. "I thought we were back playing with a bit of style and class and everyone on the pitch deserves a pat on the back. They know what they can do and produce and they were excellent. We could have had more."

Having scraped a draw against Grimsby at home last week and then slipped to defeat at Brighton, Forest needed to give their promotion challenge a fillip and it took them barely a quarter of an hour to establish superiority.

Darren Huckerby was deployed behind the front two, but it was Derby's failure to pick up Andy Reid on the left that proved their undoing as Forest scored twice in the space of 90 seconds.

First, having been sent clear by Gareth Williams, the Irishman supplied a cleverly weighted cross from which Marlon Harewood powered home a header from close range. Then, after Huckerby had released him, another precise centre found the head of David Johnson. His header hit the bar but Huckerby followed up to convert the rebound.

Had Johnson's finishing been sharper – he had three half-decent chances – and a goalbound header by Michael Dawson not been blocked on the line, the half-time margin could have been more emphatic to put Derby, for whom only Fabrizio Ravanelli threatened a response, effectively out of the game.

Derby's loan signing, the Birmingham striker Tommy Mooney, might have had a galvanising effect on his new team-mates, but saw little of the ball as Forest dominated midfield. Riccardo Scimeca was solid in the anchor role and Williams won most of his battles with Rob Lee.

In any case, hopes of a Derby recovery were extinguished three minutes after the break when the referee, Brian Curson, awarded what looked a dubious penalty in Forest's favour after Johnson was caught in a sandwich between Steve Elliott and Pablo Mills. After Adam Bolder had been booked for leading Derby's complaints, Harewood scored from the spot, after which Forest coasted to victory.

Nottingham Forest (4-3-1-2): Ward; Louis-Jean, Dawson, Hjelde, Brennan; Williams, Scimeca, Reid (Oyen, 86); Huckerby; Johnson (Jess, 82), Harewood. Substitutes not used: Roche (gk), Thompson, Doig.

Derby County (4-3-3): Grant; Barton, Mills, Elliott, Boertien (Zavagno, 57); Bolder, Burley, Lee; McLeod, Ravanelli (Chadwick, 57), Mooney. Substitutes not used: Kinkladze, Oakes (gk), Hunt.

Referee: B Curson (Leicestershire).