Daryl Murphy's 25th Championship goal of the season has given Ipswich Town a 1-0 lead at half time in their fixture with Nottingham Forest at Portman Road.

Forest nearly took the lead inside the opening two minutes when Cole Skuse slipped in his own area, turning the ball over to Henri Lansbury, but the former Arsenal man could only shoot high and wide of Bartosz Bialkowski's goal.

At the other end, Murphy headed a Teddy Bishop corner over the bar, and a deep Luke Chambers cross nearly deceived Karl Darlow at the back post.

It was Murphy who then broke the deadlock on 22 minutes when his flick on found Freddie Sears, who returned the ball to the Championship's top scorer for him to drive the ball beyond Darlow.

Tommy Smith could have doubled his side's lead just before the break, but his header from Stephen Hunt's free kick flew inches over the bar.