Nottingham Forest have been knocked out of the League Cup in the first round after Tom Bradshaw led Walsall to a 4-3 victory at the City Ground.

Both sides were on the attack early on as Jamie Ward fired the ball just over from close range before Dorus de Vries had to keep out a free kick down the other end.

It was Walsall who made the most of their chances in the opening 15 minutes though as Milan Lalkovic played in a low ball for Bradshaw, leaving the striker with a tap-in at the near post.

Bradshaw completed his brace just over two minutes later, scoring from an almost identical position after Sam Mantom picked him out with a through-ball from the left.

The visitors could have added a third before the half-hour mark as Kieron Morris saw his low finish curl just wide of the post, but Forest showed their intent down the other end just moments later when a Chris Burke effort took a deflection off James O'Connor, coming back off the crossbar.

The Championship side did get a goal back shortly before half time, with Jamie Paterson picking out Tyler Walker with a cross, leaving the 18-year-old striker to tap in at the near post and mark his full debut with a goal.

Forest had the majority of the possession in the first 10 minutes of the second half as they pushed to get back on level terms, but Paterson could not keep his shot down as he tried to rifle it home from the edge of the box.

Paterson continued to threaten for the home side, breaking down the right flank before cutting inside to get another shot away, but he could only send the ball into the side-netting.

However, Forest's hopes of rescuing the tie were all but over with just over 10 minutes still to play, as Romaine Sawyers pounced on the rebound after Morris saw his 25-yard curling effort parried.

The home side reacted quickly though, with substitute Michail Antonio unleashing a 25-yard strike of his own just moments after the restart to reduce the gap to one goal yet again.

Antonio thought that he had done enough to earn the home side an extra 30 minutes as he added yet another long-range effort with just moments remaining.

However, the substitute's efforts were in vain as Kelvin Wilson brought Bradshaw down in the box deep in stoppage time, leaving the striker to complete his hat-trick from the spot in the 95th minute and secure his side's spot in the second round.