Sheff Wed
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McAllister
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On The Bench
N Forest
On The Bench
Dutch winger Esajas' left-footed effort took a wicked deflection off Forest captain Ian Breckin and beat helpless keeper Paul Smith to ensure the Owls remain unbeaten in the league, and set the alarm bells ringing at the City Ground.
Wednesday boss Brian Laws won the League Cup twice in his playing days at Forest, but there was no room for sentiment as his current employers heaped more misery on the East Midlands club.
Colin Calderwood's men have lost five out of five games away from home since returning to the second tier and although Wednesday keeper Lee Grant was forced to make some fine second-half saves to deny Andrew Cole, they clearly must improve if they are to avoid a relegation battle.
Calderwood urged his men to play with "anger" following their away defeat at Plymouth at the weekend and it was clear they would have to be up for the fight against a confident Wednesday side.
It looked like Forest might be up against it when Marcus Tudgay burst through 11 minutes in, but although Kelvin Wilson appeared to pull the striker back, referee Andy D'Urso saw nothing wrong.
Forest looked short of ideas going forward but they did show plenty of commitment in a scrappy opening 45 minutes.
Wednesday should have broken the deadlock two minutes before the break when Tony McMahon crossed for the unmarked Deon Burton who inexplicably headed wide from just six yards out.
Forest were presented with their first opportunity to open the scoring just after half-time but Matt Thornhill's free-kick from outside the area was comfortably saved by Grant.
And Forest were stunned two minutes after the break when the Owls took the lead with a goal that came out of the blue.
Esajas picked the ball up 20 yards from goal and his strike took a deflection off Breckin and beat the wrong-footed Smith to creep inside the near post.
Forest, to their credit, gave a positive response to going behind and Cole set up strike partner Nathan Tyson, whose shot was saved by Grant.
And former Derby goalkeeper Grant made two excellent saves in just under a minute to keep his side in front.
A Joel Lynch header looked to be looping into the far corner until Grant retreated to tip it over the crossbar, and from the resulting corner he produced an outstanding reflex save to deny veteran striker Cole.
But Burton should have killed the game off after 68 minutes when McMahon broke free after a superb one-two and crossed for the former Jamaica frontman, who somehow missed the target from point-blank range.
Thornhill's shot flashed agonisingly wide as Forest pressed for an equaliser but Wednesday almost doubled their advantage when Smith produced an excellent save deny James O'Connor.
Cole came close in the closing stages with an angled drive that Grant superbly tipped round the post and the former Manchester United hitman turned and shot wide with two minutes left.
