Fulham 3-2 Nottingham Forest

Fulham increased the pressure on Nottingham Forest boss Stuart Pearce as Ross McCormack's hat-trick earned them victory at Craven Cottage.

The striker finished a fine passing move for his first then doubled Fulham's lead with a curling effort.

He completed his treble after 35 minutes before Forest hit back through a Henri Lansbury free-kick.

Lansbury netted a second when he fired in Michail Antonio's lay-off, but the hosts held on for back-to-back wins.

Yet Forest could have earned a share of the points had Britt Assombalonga not missed with a free header from three yards out late on.

The win means Fulham draw level with Forest on 34 points, with Kit Symons' side now two places below Forest in 14th.

When Stuart Pearce's team won the reverse fixture 5-3 in September, they were top of the Championship on 17 points and Fulham were bottom with just one.

But Forest have suffered a severe loss of form since then. This latest reverse will again intensify the scrutiny on the former Forest left-back after Saturday's win at Derby briefly relieved the pressure on the beleaguered boss.

McCormack's goals took his tally for the season to 10, with half of those coming against Forest.

Fulham manager Kit Symons:

"Ross [McCormack] was excellent. He took his goals really well. It's nice to see him scoring, although his overall contribution has never been in question.

"In the second half Forest had a right go but we were resolute, we stood up and were counted.

"They were putting a lot of balls into our box, there was always that danger that something would fall for them but I was pleased with the way we defended overall."

Nottingham Forest manager Stuart Pearce:

"Frustration is the word, having played so well at Derby we came here pretty confident.

"But we shot ourselves in the foot, big time. We lost the game in the first 20 minutes. If you give the quality of McCormack that much space and time he will punish you."