Brennan Johnson, Jesse Lingard and Taiwo Awoniyi send Forest to the last eight of the Carabao Cup

Nottingham Forest eased past Blackburn Rovers to make the last eight of the Carabao Cup thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson, Jesse Lingard and Taiwo Awoniyi after a Scott Wharton header for the hosts. 

Johnson won and converted the spot kick, after a foul from Blackburn defender Scott Wharton, to give the visitors the lead after just 13 minutes against a Rovers side that had made 11 changes for the Carabao Cup tie. 

But Wharton quickly turned from villain to hero to level the scoring on the stroke of half-time, heading home his brother Ashley’s cross from a free-kick to level the tie against the run of play. 

Lingard then put the visitors back in front with a well-taken free-kick from just outside the box in the 53rd minute, before the ex-Manchester United man turned provider to set up Awoniyi 26 minutes later. 

Johnson then netted his second of the match in stoppage time to complete the scoring on a positive evening for Steve Cooper’s side ahead of the Premier League restart. 

He was brought down in the penalty area by Blackburn Rovers defender Scott Wharton

Wharton went from villain to hero when he converted his brother Adam’s free-kick on 44 minutes

Jesse Lingard made it 2-1 direct from a free-kick after 53 minutes to retake the lead

Lingard then turned provider to tee up Taiwo Awoniyi to score Forest’s third of the match