Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Nottingham Forest – Player ratings as Reds claim first win

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Nottingham Forest ended a run of seven successive defeats with a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

Joe Lolley’s injury-time goal was enough to see off a resilient Rovers and put a first three points on the board for Forest.

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The win saw Chris Hughton kick off his tenure in style and give Forest a confidence boost going into a home double-header against Rotherham and Derby.

Following the win, we looked at the Forest players and marked their performances out of 10.

Brice Samba – 7

Solid from the big man who was back to his best with his handling and distribution. In truth, didn’t have a lot to do.

Cyrus Christie – 8

Excellent from the right-back who enjoyed his best performance in a Forest shirt to date.

Tobias Figueiredo – 9

A timely return to form for Forest’s centre-back who had found himself down the pecking order in recent weeks.

Scott McKenna – 9

Quality. The youngster is pretty old-fashioned in the sense that he heads and kicks everything in a no-nonsense manner.

Nicholas Ioannou – 8

The Cyrpus international looks like a real find by the Reds. Was impressive at both ends of the pitch and coped well with the threat of Adam Armstrong.

Jack Colback – 7.5

Went off injured in the second half and Forest will face an anxious wait to see if he will be fit to face Rotherham. Performed better than he has in recent weeks.

Ryan Yates – 8

Fluffed his lines with a header from close range but did his midfield duties impeccably well.

Joe Lolley – 8

The Forest winger has scored enough belters during his time at the club to warrant a bit of luck. His deflected effort gave the Reds their first win of the campaign.

Luke Freeman – 7

Tried his best to get Forest going and worked hard throughout the contest.

Sammy Ameobi – 7

Energetic and lively from the Forest flyer who enjoyed a fair amount of joy down the left-hand side in the second half.

Lewis Grabban – 7

Isolated somewhat in the attack and one big challenge for Hughton will be to get his team carving out more chances for the talisman.

Substitutes

Harry Arter (Colback) – 7

Changed the game along with Taylor when he was introduced, giving Forest far more urgency in the middle of the park.

Lyle Taylor (Grabban) – 7

Was unfortunate not to open his Reds account with a zipping drive that needed a strong save from the Blackburn goalkeeper.