Report by Ben Davis

Pompey keeper Aaron Flahavan produced some fines saves to deny Forest romping to victory, but the one that did get past him was to be the eventual winner. It was always going to be a tough game against one of the favourites to gain promotion this season and to Pompey's credit they came out in the second half with fighting spirit after being outclassed in the first.
Fans' favourite Durnin got his deserved starting appearance in place of Swedish striker Mathias Svensson who dropped down to the subs bench. McLoughlin's poor form saw him dropped and Paul Hall returned after helping Jamaica get closer to the World Cup Finals. Also on the bench was new signing Craig Foster.
Forest immediately stormed forward with Cooper, back from injury, surging forward from defence in a move which saw Van Hooijdonk slip Lyttle down the right but Perrett did well to cover the menace of Campbell from the cross. Pompey's first effort on goal came shortly afterwards with Igoe firing in a shot from 25-yards which was comfortably saved by former Scum keeper Beasant.
The first corner came when Whitbread had to head behind from Chettle's pass as Lyttle moved in. However, in heading behind the Pompey captain twisted an ankle although he stayed on for the corner. Both teams were then in the wars when Perrett clashed heads with Campbell from the corner. During the three minutes it took to sort the players out Forest's Norwegian defender Hjelde went off for an earlier injury with Johnson coming on.
Forest though kept up the pressure with Flahavan saving Pompey with saves from Saunders twice and an even better one from Campbell's volley 10-yards out. The bar then rescued Pompey when from a Rogers cross Van Hooijdonk thumped a header against the underside of Flahavan's cross bar.
Somehow Pompey had managed to stay in the game but in the 34th minute Forest's intense pressure was rewarded as they took the lead. Saunders flicked the ball onto Van Hooijdonk who escaped the offside trap to blast a shot in past Flahavan.
Whitbread's afternoon though had come to an end with Waterman coming on to replace his injured captain. The young defender was immediately in the action as he was penalised for bringing down Saunders even though it looked as though the Welsh striker had elbowed him. The free-kick brought a corner which was handled well by Flahavan.
Pompey then had a half chance when from Turner's cross Russell stabbed a shot wide. To Pompey's relief half-time came after Forest should have been at least three goals up with only Flahavan's heroics denying them.
In the recent matches Pompey had come out more determined in the second half and it looked as though the trend would continue as shortly after the break Aloisi headed just over from Hall's cross.
Pompey looked much brighter and won their third corner of the match when Gemmill knocked the ball off Igoe who had stormed into the area. From the corner Perrett's header was scrambled off the line and Hillier's shot from the edge of the area rebounded between the large mass of players in Forest's area.
Beasant who was taking in large amounts of abuse from the travelling fans managed to slightly silence them with a fine save from Turner's fierce drive in the 51st minute. Minutes later Chettle gifted the ball to Hall who found Aloisi out on the left and the Aussie's shot was again well saved by Beasant as he turned it over for a corner.
Waterman then went very close to scoring an own goal as from Johnson's cross he nudged it fractionally over Flahavan's bar, yet had he not intercepted it Campbell wound have certainly scored. However, that was a far as Forest got to getting a second goal as Pompey looked to take advantage of the home side's uncertain defending.
with 13 minutes remaining new signing Foster entered the play although that vital goal just wasn't there and the win for Forest meant they went top of the league. Despite the defeat there were some plus points, especially Flahavan who showed that he is ready to battle for the No.1 shirt now that Knight is back in training. Also Turner had a brighter performance than against Crewe although it would be expected that Simpson would return for the QPR match on Wednesday.