Hillsborough reaction: Carlos Carvalhal pleased with creative Owls

Gary Hooper, Steven Fletcher and Kieran Lee scored for hosts Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship clash, with Ben Osborn on target for Forest.

Wednesday applied strong early pressure with Hooper, Fletcher, Joost van Aken and Lee all threatening inside the opening quarter of an hour.

The hosts struck the first blow in the 23rd minute when Jordan Smith’s poor clearance went straight to Barry Bannan and he slipped the ball through to Hooper who punished the goalkeeper’s error with a clinical finish.

Forest equalised six minutes later when Barrie McKay found Osborn who slotted the ball past Keiren Westwood.

The home side regained the lead in the 63rd minute when Fletcher got between a couple of defenders to meet a corner from Lee, planting a firm header past Smith.

It was 3-1 to Wednesday when the ball fell into the path of Lee who finished from close range in the 70th minute.

Carvalhal said: “I had a good vibe about the team before the game. We have been training very well and training was very positive.

“After eight minutes, I looked at my watch and we’d achieved five clear chances to score goals.

“They understand that we can’t play like that all the time and they knew what they must do. We tried to achieve situations in different ways and waited for our opportunities.

“We achieved one goal but Nottingham Forest achieved one situation and scored a goal.

“We never lost control of the game. In the second half we were solid and compact and waited for our opportunity again. We made it 2-1 and 3-1.

“After that, we closed the shop - no sales anymore - and finished the game.

“It was the first game of the season for Kieran Lee. He is a super, athletic player and he will play better.”

Forest manager Mark Warburton said: “I thought it was looking good up until the second goal.

“Wednesday came out very quickly and put us under a lot of pressure. They came out hard and fast and we had to change our shape quite quickly.

“We changed it very early in the game and I thought we finished the half strongly and were looking in good shape.

“We rallied well and deserved to get a goal back. We wanted to be on the front foot and I thought we were controlling it.

“We’ve then gifted two goals and goals change games - it’s as simple as that. There’s no denying we didn’t defend our goal.

“They then put men behind the ball and they were hard to break down. We paid the price for conceding two sloppy goals and we’ve got to learn from that.

“There’s no excuses - we have to be better as a unit.”