Nottingham Forest continued what has been a largely erratic season on Easter Monday when they saw off promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough with ease at the City Ground. 

Joe Lolley gave Martin O'Neill's side the lead six minutes before half time, emphatically converting a penalty after Ryan Shotton was judged to have fouled Karim Ansarifard in the in the box.

[ad_pod ]

Just after the hour mark, centre-back Alex Milosevic made it 2-0 with his first goal for the club, thumping the ball into the top corner after a clever Matty Cash assist.

And the victory was sewn up six minutes from time when Joao Carvalho found Lolley brilliantly for the winger to convert his second of the match and round off a 3-0 win.

Carvalho is somebody who has not had the best time of it since O'Neill's arrival, largely being condemned to the bench, but he was given his chance on Monday and boy did he take it.

After arriving for £13million back in the summer, the 22-year-old has always shown glimpses of brilliance but has lacked both consistency and the right management.

The stats yesterday, however, proved that whoever is managing the club during the summer must look to build their squad around the Portuguese.

One assist does not tell the whole story. Five successful dribbles show he is somebody to propel the team forward whilst four key passes prove he is more than capable of doing the business in the final third.

He is far from wasteful, as shown by a pass success of 89% which, as an attacking midfielder, is truly outstanding.

Carvalho will know he could have done more this season, but performances like the one on Monday serve to remind onlookers, especially O'Neill, that there is a special player in there.