Nottingham Forest secured a vital three points in their pursuit to stay in the Premier League as they beat fellow relegation rivals Southampton 4-3 in a Bank Holiday Monday thriller.
Saints started the brighter of the two sides at The City Ground but it was Forest who took the lead against the run of play. Danilo's long diagonal pass found Brennan Johnson in space and the Welsh winger squared the ball across to Taiwo Awoniyi, who fired home from close-range.
Forest smelt blood and it took them three minutes to double their advantage, with that man Awoniyi striking his second of the night as he smashed the ball into the roof of the net beyond Alex McCarthy. But Saints didn't give up and halved the deficit through Carlos Alcaraz.
A topsy-turvy first-half didn't end there, though, when Morgan Gibbs-White struck from the penalty spot. Saints pulled another goal back just after half-time through Lyanco's header. That was as good as it got for the visitors, however, as Danilo struck to earn all three points - despite James Ward-Prowse's late consolation.
Here are five talking points from the game.
Awoniyi at the double
Jan Bednarek and the Southampton defenders will be having nightmares about Awoniyi when they go to bed. The Pole, alongside Armel Bella-Kotchap in particular, were utterly bullied and outfought by the Nigerian all game and could not contain his power, strength and all-round technical ability.
Awoniyi's first goal encapsulated up an excellent piece of forward play. He was in the right place at the right time and span off Bednarek before tucking home from 12 yards. Awoniyi's second was a more trademark finish as he outmuscled Bella-Kotchap and lashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Gibbs-White paying back his price tag
When Morgan Gibbs-White arrived from Wolves in club record deal last summer, there were some questions raised about the sheer size of the fee. Gibbs-White, 22, failed to score in his first 12 Premier League matches for Forest - before netting twice in two games against Brentford and Crystal Palace.
He went on another long barren spell but returned to the scoresheet for the 3-2 defeat at Liverpool. After his strike from the penalty spot in the win over Southampton, Gibbs-White now has three in his last four, while also grabbing an assist at Anfield just over two weeks' ago.
The ex-Wolves midfielder is slowly showing why The Reds splashed £42.5m on him - and is backing that up with goal contributions. Gibbs-White also set-up Forest's fourth on the night with a terrific backheel for Danilo to smash home past McCarthy.
Alcaraz shines again
Since moving to St Mary's in January, no player has directly contributed to more Southampton goals than the Argentine (6). Alcaraz struck Saints' first at The City Ground with a neat finish to take him up to five goals and one assist in a Saints shirt following his reported £12million switch from Racing Club.
James Ward-Prowse (4) and Che Adams (4) sit second in that department since Alcaraz's debut in Saints' 2-1 win over Everton. It wasn't just his goal that stood out against Forest, however. The 20-year-old played in the no.10 role and constantly picked up the ball on the half-turn to create chances for his teammates. Unfortunately for Alcaraz, he was on the losing side but still impressed.
Same old story for Southampton
Southampton have often played well in matches this season, but fell short due to a lack of firepower or defensive errors at the back. It was a similar story in this one as Ruben Selles' side created a number of chances - and had 19 shots - 10 more than The Reds - but scored three goals.
When it was level at 0-0, Che Adams missed a guilt-edge opportunity. Moments later, Saints were punished through a lack of concentration and sloppiness in defence. Even when Southampton scored to make it 3-2, it felt as though there was an opportunity for Selles' men to level, but it wasn't meant to be.
Where does it leave both teams
It proved to be a vital result for Forest as they moved up to 16th with the win, three points clear of the drop zone. They leapfrogged Everton after their stunning 5-1 victory against Brighton earlier in the day, while Leicester, who were thrashed 5-3 at Fulham, fall into the relegation places.
As for Southampton, they remain bottom and are eight points adrift with three games remaining. Saints face Fulham, Brighton and Liverpool before the end of the season and will be relegated to the Championship if they don't beat Fulham on Saturday - regardless of results elsewhere.
