Norwich come from behind to inflict first home defeat on Nottingham Forest
Norwich fought back from behind to inflict Nottingham Forest's first defeat of the season at the City Ground, as second-half goals from Jonny Howson and Graham Dorrans earned the Canaries a 2-1 win.
Apostolos Vellios' third goal in three games had put Forest ahead in the 40th minute, as he swept home after an Eric Lichaj header had hit the post.
But Howson scrambled Norwich level in the 52nd minute before an outstanding strike from Dorrans earned them a third consecutive victory, bolstering their position as one of the favourites for promotion from the Sky Bet Championship.
Vladimir Stojkovic had to make a smart save in the second minute, getting down well to push a crisp effort from Robbie Brady around the foot of the post.
Martin Olsson seemed guilty of a clear handball on the edge of the box but, amid the Forest protests, play continued and Mustapha Carayol drove a vicious low ball across the face of goal, which Vellios was inches away from converting at the far post.
An outstanding pass from Lichaj completely split the Norwich defence and picked out the run of Nicolao Dumitru towards the far post - but the Forest winger just failed to make contact at the vital moment.
The home side were enjoying a lively spell, with Hildeberto Pereira then slipping in Dumitru again, only for Russell Martin to make a vital challenge.
Wes Hoolahan had a shot deflected wide of the post, before taking centre stage again when he went down in the box after Dumitru had dangled a boot unwisely
Hoolahan regained his feet to take the penalty - but saw Stojkovic make an outstanding save, diving to his left.
Forest were denied a penalty of their own at the other end after Pereira felt he had been shoved to the ground by Martin - but it was not long before Forest did take the lead.
Carayol found the room to deliver a cross from the left and the unlikely figure of Lichaj thumped a header against the post
As everyone else stood and watched, Vellios reacted the quickest to slot the rebound emphatically into the back of the net.
Forest almost doubled their advantage before the interval when Chris Cohen let fly from the edge of the box but saw his effort rise narrowly over.
The second half saw Jacob Murphy force another good save from Stojkovic with a driven shot - and the resulting corner was followed by an equaliser
Martin applied a flick on towards the far post where Howson was able to scramble the ball home.
Norwich were having the better of it at this point, with Murphy flashing a low shot narrowly wide and Forest responded by bringing on Denmark international Nicklas Bendtner for his home debut with half an hour to go.
It was defender Matt Mills who was close to scoring nex,t though, as he glanced a header wide from a Cohen corner.
Norwich took the advantage for the first time in the 66th minute when Dorrans rifled an unstoppable shot low into the bottom corner after the ball had rebounded to him on the edge of the box.
Bendtner's moment almost came in the 70th minute when he found himself chasing through on goal but, after he had unselfishly squared for Dumitru, he was unable to get a shot away before the Norwich defence - and goalkeeper Michael McGovern - recovered their positioning.
Both Bendtner and fellow sub Ben Osborn sent headers wide as Norwich held on for three points.
Source : PA
Source: PA