Automatic hopes extinguished: Huddersfield Town caught napping as Nottingham Forest run out victors

Mark Warburton now wants Forest to take another step closer to safety when they face relegation rivals Blackburn on Friday after moving five points clear of the drop zone.

A close-range finish from Eric Lichaj in the 32nd minute and a well-taken solo effort from Jamie Ward 12 minutes after the break put Forest on course and they might have won by a far bigger margin.

Huddersfield will focus on the play-offs after Wagner admitted that his side had been second best. The head coach challenged his third-placed side to produce a response in their remaining six regular season games.

“Today we did not perform and this was the biggest problem. We have to make sure we perform better. But we are human,” he said. “We were second best, particularly in the first half. They surprised us with their set up. We were not expecting that.

“We were not able to make the right decisions, Forest had a three-man back line and were overloading the midfield. We were not able to catch them and close the gaps.

“We changed our formation at half-time and we were better. We had opportunities. But then we made a mistake – an unusual mistake – for the second goal.

“We left ourselves with a mountain to climb and we were not able to do it.”

Nottingham Forest: Smith, Worrall, Mills, Traore (Mancienne 59), Lichaj, Vaughan, Cohen, Osborn, Clough (Tshibola 58), Brereton, Ward (Assombalonga 72). Unused substitutes: Carayol, Evtimov, Vellios, Cash.

Huddersfield Town: Ward, Smith, Hefele, Schindler, Holmes-Dennis (Whitehead 46), Hogg (Quaner 77), Billing, Kachunga, Mooy, van La Parra (Lolley 46), Wells. Unused substitutes: Hudson, Coleman, Cranie, Payne.

Referee: T Robinson (West Sussex).