Two early Nottingham Forest goals left Karl Robinson's MK Dons side shell shocked as they marched to a 2-1 win to leave the Dons just a point above the bottom three.

Nelson Oliveira opened the scoring just two minutes into the game at the City Ground

Forest started the game on fire, with Portuguese striker Nelson Oliviera beating his man with a clever touch, and rifling the ball home with a powerful low strike to give Forest the lead.

Ryan Mendes, who has looking a breath of fresh air this season, and was heavily involved in the first goal, then got one for himself just 16 minutes in. After an initial strike missed, Mendes got a second bite at the cherry, and made no mistake about it, prodding home from close range to give MK Dons a mountain to climb.

Mendes and Oliviera looked the two best players on the pitch, and the latter nearly made it three, but his strike cannoned off the woodwork.

Nicky Maynard missed what proved to be a crucial chance, when his spot kick was saved by Dorus De Vries.

The Dons did get a late goal to get them back in the game, with Josh Murphy scoring from the edge of the area, but it wasn't enough, and Forest ran out winners.

Here are THREE things we learned from this game:

1) Ryan Mendes is a danger

The Cape Verdean winger proved a nuisance throughout the entire game, and didn't take his foot of the gas for the full match.

All of Forest's play went through him, and every dangerous move had him at the core and the winger, on loan from French side Lille, showed why he is such a key player for Forest.

Dougie Freedman will need to continue to build around Mendes if Forest are to have any real chance of reaching the play-offs this season.

2) MK Dons need to turn up earlier

The Dons were 2-0 down in this game before they had the chance to respond, and this will keep happening if they don't play with the same hunger they played with after 30 minutes.

It was a slow start all over the pitch for Karl Robinson's men and, in truth, they looked out of their depth against a Forest side that find themselves in mid table.

If they fail to concentrate as soon as the referee starts the match, they will continue to find games out of reach early on, and will struggle to pick up the required points to survive.

3) Nelson Oliviera looks a great capture

The powerful Portuguese striker struggled for goals in his early games, but has come into his own recently, and in this game he played off Mendes superbly, and looked as good as any other top scorer in this division.

Although he struggled with Premier League side Swansea at the end of last season, he has shone in the Championship and is currently Forest's top goal scorer with five.

If he keeps performing, and scoring, then Forest have at least a shot at the play-offs this season, but they could probably do with a backup option to the Benfica man.

Nottingham Forest and MK Dons fans...What did you think of the match? Can Forest make the play-offs? Will MK Dons survive? Let us know what you think in the comments below!