NEIL Lennon blasted his side for “going soft” after another four-goal hammering on the road at Forest.

Two goals from Chris Burke, a penalty from Henril Lansbury and a rocket from star man Michail Antionio was enough to give Dougie Freedman a win against his former club.

Adam Le Fondre’s penalty just before the break brought Wanderers briefly into the game at 2-1 but Matt Mills was then sent off, leaving his side with an uphill task.

The loss of Tim Ream, Filip Twardzik and Andy Lonergan to injury also contributed to a disastrous day for Lennon, who says many of his side’s wounds were self-inflicted.

“It was poor,” he said. “You can talk about working on the training ground to tighten things up, but when people are making individual mistakes, there is not a lot you can do.

“We were missing headers, not putting tackles in – we were soft and we need to correct it quickly. We will have to think about things.

“We have picked up another three injuries, but that does not excuse the ill discipline, particularly the ill discipline of the captain, who had a booking and a warning at half time.

“But then we were down to ten men two minutes after the break and we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

"I don't know why but we've become a soft touch and it's got to change."

Lennon used Tim Ream at right-back and Twardzik on the left side of defence in a re-jigged line-up but it quickly became apparent that the home side were on form.

It took just eight minutes for Forest to get themselves in front, and it was a man who Freedman tried to bring to the Macron Stadium in the summer, Chris Burke, who did the damage.

The Scottish winger pounced on a poor touch from Twardzik and had his first shot saved well by Andy Lonergan. The ball bounced straight back into his path, however, and his second was rifled into the roof of the net.

Just 11 minutes later Forest had doubled their lead. Antonio powered through Clough on half way and then barged through four more defenders before blasting a shot past Lonergan.

Impressive though his finish was, major questions needed asking of Wanderers defending, and not for the first time this last few weeks.

Forest could and should have made the game safe well before the break.

Blackstock was denied by a fine close-range stop by Lonergan and Ben Osborn had a goalbound shot blocked by a sprawling challenge by Mills.

A bad day got worse when Tim Ream was stretchered off towards the end of the half, having collided with the far post trying to defend another deep cross by Antonio.

Several minutes of treatment took the sting out of the game – and Wanderers somehow managed to give themselves a lifeline.

Clough managed to get a run on goal for the first time, and he drew a challenge from Fox which sent him tumbling.

Le Fondre drove the penalty straight down the middle to halve the deficit in first half stoppage time but any thoughts that the Whites would get back into it quickly disintegrated after the break.

Mills had already been booked for a silly challenge on Antonio in the first half, and within two minutes of the restart earned himself a second yellow for another trip on the winger from referee Carl Boyeson.

The captain threw his armband at the fourth official heading back down the tunnel, and it was eventually picked up by 19-year-old Clough.

We were then treated to the surreal sight of half-time sub Emile Heskey playing centre-half for 20-plus minutes, while the youngster acted as captain.

But it was no laughing matter. Moments later Lonergan left the field on a stretcher after bringing down Blackstock in the penalty box, and Wanderers had to use up their last sub to replace him.

Enter on loan Manchester United keeper Ben Amos, whose last competitive game was New Year’s Day 2014 for Carlisle United. His first action was to pick Henri Lansbury’s penalty out of his net.

His second was to pick the ball out of the net again. This time Heskey had got himself in a tangle on the edge of the box and Burke was on hand to rifle home his second of the game.

At that point you wondered what score it could possibly be.

Thankfully, Amos recovered his poise and made a couple of handy stops before the end.

Forest had declared way before the fourth official flashed up 10 minutes of added time. But Lansbury nearly added a second of his own with a free-kick at the bitter end which was curled into the side netting.