Nottingham Forest suffered their worst defeat of the season as they went down 5-0 at Turf Moor.

It was a very poor first half from Forest, creating very little and the Burnley keeper did not have a save to make. The home side created little more, but an error of judgement by Paul Smith gifted them their first goal and this was followed by a second which saw the Forest defence lacking.

It went from bad to worse in the second half with Burnley adding three more goals to their tally as Forest stuggled to find any cohesion and had just one direct shot on target.

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With three more players being added to the injury list this week, Billy Davies made five changes to the starting line-up, with new loan signing Chris Gunter making his debut.

With a poor pitch and high winds the chance of seeing some good football looked doubtful.

There was a lengthy stoppage less than five minutes into the game after a challenge on Wes Morgan by Steven Thompson left the Burnley player in pain on the ground and he was eventually substituted.

Once the game re-started it was disjointed with neither side really getting going with Forest knocking balls up to the front that Robert Earnshaw was never going to get on the end of.

Burnley took the lead after 20 minutes, with the first chance on goal of the game from a free kick by Robbie Blake. The ball floated across the goal, Paul Smith misjudged it, thinking it would go wide, but the ball curled in at the far post.

Burnley won themselves a corner after a good break forward gave them another chance on goal, but Chris Gunter intercepted the ball to put it out.

Burnley extended their lead in the 39th minute after good work by Blake, twisting and turning to get past Luke Chambers and into the penalty area until he found space to drill the ball through a crowd of bodies and off Wade Elliott into the back of the net.

Elliott gave Forest a rare chance to get forward when his argument with the referee allowed Gary McSheffrey to make a break down the left and put a good ball in which was intercepted by Steven Caldwell to give Forest a corner just before half time.

With Forest desperate to get back into the game, Joe Garner came out in place of Garath McCleary for the start of the second half.

Burnley extended their lead just six minutes into the half when the ball came in for Martin Paterson who whipped in a cross to an unmarked Clarke Carlisle who had an easy task to head in at the back post.

And Burnley were four ahead four minutes later when Jay Rodriguez knocked the ball sideways past Chambers and then hit a screamer into the top corner from 25 yards out.

Isaiah Osbourne showed his skill when he got away from three players to get up the pitch to set up Cohen but his effort went behind for a goal kick.

Burnley almost got a fifth with a powerful shot by substitute Joey Gudjonsson from 35 yards which saw Smith scrambling as the ball only just went wide.

But they did get a fifth with 18 minutes still remaining when Gudjonsson raced in and smashed the ball into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The home side had yet another chance with a good ball from Eagles through to Rodriguez as he ran into the box and Smith did well to come out and grab the ball.

Forest substitutions saw Matt Thornhill come on for McSheffrey and Lewis McGugan replace a limping Osbourne.

And McGugan was influential within a minute, forcing the first direct save of the game from Brian Jensen.

There were hardly any Forest supporters left in the ground by the time the final whistle went to leave them perched precariously a point outside the relegation zone.

Nottingham Forest: Paul Smith, Wes Morgan(C), Luke Chambers, James Perch, Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary(Joe Garner 45minHT), Isaiah Osbourne(Lewis McGugan 78min), Chris Cohen, Nathan Tyson, Gary McSheffrey(Matt Thornhill 75min), Robert Earnshaw
Subs not used: Paddy Gamble, Brendan Moloney,
Bookings: Cohen 50min, Garner 81min

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Christian Kalvenes, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Rhys Williams, Robbie Blake(Chris Eagles 67min), Chris McCann(Joey Gudjonsson 70min), Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Martin Paterson, Steven Thompson(Jay Rodriguez 8min)
Subs not used: Diego Penny, Kevin McDonald,
Scorers: Blake 20min, Elliott 39min, Carlisle 51min, Rodriguez 55min, Gudjonsson 73min,

Referee: D Whitestone