Sheffield Wednesday 0 Nottingham Forest 1: Owls grounded by Forest

Owls manager Dave Jones had no new injury worries, but left-back Reda Johnson missed out with his long-term foot injury.

The only change from the team which beat Crystal Palace last time out saw Jeremy Helan come in for Kieran Lee, who dropped to the bench.

Forest started brightly, but the Owls came closest to scoring on 13 minutes when Connor Wickham’s header tested visiting goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

Wednesday needed a linesman’s flag to rescue them on 25 minutes, the official calling offside as Dexter Blackstock nodded in Andy Reid’s cross.

And they did not heed the warning, as Forest scored moments later. The visitors showed slick passing to cut open the home defence and the ball eventually reached Radoslaw Majewski who tapped home beyond a helpless Chris Kirkland.

Wickham, yet to score for Wednesday since joining on loan from Sunderland, was replaced at half-time by Jermaine Johnson.

Michail Antonio fired over when well-placed, but Forest were proving hard to break down as Wednesday struggled to force the pace of the game in front of 23,220 inside Hillsborough.

Substitute Gary Madine was thrown on by the Owls in one last gamble, but they could not find an equaliser despite some frantic goalmouth scrambles.

Sheff Wed: Kirkland, Buxton, Gardner, Llera, Pugh, Antonio, Prutton, Coke, Helan, Lita, Wickham. Subs: Bywater, Taylor, Semedo, Madine, Jermaine Johnson, McCabe, Lee.

Nottm Forest: Darlow, Jara Reyes, Collins, Ward, Cohen, Lansbury, Guedioura, Majewski, Reid, Cox, Blackstock. Subs: Evtimov, Moussi, McGugan, Greening, Lascelles, Sharp, McLaughlin.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

For full match report and reaction, read Sports Monday, free in Monday’s Yorkshire Post newspaper.