Gillingham 1 – 3 Nottingham Forest

GILLINGHAM were beaten for the first time this season by Nottingham Forest at Priestfield on Saturday.

Neale Cooper’s side got off to the worst possible start when they went behind inside eight minutes.

Forest dangerman Kris Commons played in David Johnson, who found himself all alone against Gills keeper Jason Brown and made no mistake in slotting the ball home from the edge of the box.

The home side struggled to get the ball out of their own half early on and Forest continued to threaten.

The visitors doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Scott Dobie was left unchallenged to side-foot home a Commons corner.

Gills defender Ian Cox was lucky to escape a red card in the build up after he brought down Dobie on the edge of the penalty area.

The best chance for the home side in the opening 45 minutes fell to new striker Steve Hislop, but his header skewed just wide of Paul Gerrard’s post.

Cox got lucky again five minutes into the second half after he was let off with just a warning after kicking the ball away.

Darren Byfield got Gillingham back into the game with a controversial goal with 10 minutes left.

Byfield showed good feet on the edge of the area before sending a deflected shot into the back of the net.

The strike was at first ruled out because substitute Moses Ashikodi lunged at the ball from an offside position, but the referee gave the goal after a lengthy discussion with his assistant.

But Forest made the game safe just two minutes later when substitute Spencer Weir-Daley headed in another corner, this time from the foot of former Gill Nicky Southall.

Gillingham: Brown, Rose, Cox, Hope, Jackman, Hessenthaler, Flynn (Shields 72), Crofts, Jarvis, Byfield, Hislop (Ashikodi h-t). Subs Not Used: Knowles, Sancho, Corneille.

Attendance: 7,228.

Other League 1 results:

Barnsley 1 - 1 Brentford
Bradford 1 - 2 Bournemouth
Bristol City 2 - 2 MK Dons
Chesterfield 0 - 2 Tranmere
Colchester 0 - 0 Oldham
Huddersfield 2 - 1 Hartlepool
Port Vale 2 - 0 Doncaster
Rotherham 4 - 0 Blackpool
Scunthorpe 0 - 0 Southend
Swindon 4 - 2 Yeovil
Walsall 2 - 5 Swansea