A late debut goal from Nelson Oliveira ensured that Nottingham Forest fought back from a goal down to beat 10-man Queens Park Rangers 2-1 at Loftus Road in the Championship this afternoon.
The game did not start in the tidiest of fashions given that Chris O'Grady stuck a blood-drawing challenge on Gabriele Angella, who had to be bandaged up on the sidelines before being allowed back onto the pitch.
After a frantic opening 15 minutes, it was perhaps QPR who had the best of the early chances when Charlie Austin looked to get his quick fire shot off on goal, much to the detriment of its final quality.
Austin was involved again in QPR's next promising move after teeing up Hungarian midfielder Daniel Tozser, who eventually saw his wicked drive blocked on its way to goal by Matt Mills.
The hosts were almost undone, however, when Eric Lichaj made a storming run from the back to find himself one on one with Green, leaving the centre-back to fire his shot straight at the keeper from 15 yards out.
Forest came out of the traps quickest in the second period, allowing Henri Lansbury to beat his man and turn in a cross that was cleverly smothered by Green in the QPR goal.
The away midfielder continued to grow in prominence, this time as he unleashed a powerful shot from distance that had Green worrying until it swerved away at the vital moment.
QPR sought to hit straight back, however, with Nedum Onuoha bombing forward for a corner and clipping a volley just an inch too wide of the Forest goal.
The first breakthrough arrived after 65 minutes, and it fell to the hosts when Austin saw his 20-yard effort somehow squirm under the grasp of De Vries to give Rangers a 1-0 foothold.
The lead was not to last too long, though, as Robert Green was given a straight red for bringing down O'Grady inside the area, giving Lansbury the chance to finish from the spot in 75th minute.
Forest made their advantage count and they soon bagged the winner seven minutes later through Oliveira, who slotted in at the near post to cap off a dream debut for the Benfica loanee.
Christopher Dodd
