April 25, (THEWILL) — Four goals before the interval powered Nottingham Forest to a 5-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, moving them eight points clear of the English Premier League relegation zone.
Trai Hume opened the scoring with an own goal in the 17th minute after Igor Jesus headed the ball back across the goal.
Chris Wood doubled the advantage by capitalising on a costly error from Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs, before Morgan Gibbs-White made it 3-0 by drilling into the bottom-left corner from a Jesus knock-down.
Ola Aina played a key role in Forest’s fourth. His long-range effort was blocked directly into the path of Jesus, who volleyed home to complete a three-goal burst within six first-half minutes.
Chris Rigg had earlier wasted a golden opportunity for Sunderland, shooting straight at Matz Sels.
The home side thought they had pulled a goal back just after the hour mark through Dan Ballard, only for a VAR review to disallow the header after Nordi Mukiele was adjudged to have fouled goalkeeper Sels in the build-up.
Nigerian forward Taiwo Awoniyi provided the final contribution, laying the ball off for former Newcastle United man Elliot Anderson, who swept home in the 95th minute to complete a victory that could prove vital in Forest’s bid for top-flight survival.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
