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A drenched Ruben Selles trudged over to the away end with a look of guilt and a resignation that his work has not been good enough to keep Southampton in the Premier League.<br>Barring a miracle in the final weeks, their 11-year stay in the top division will end and Selles' players, some of them looking on the verge of tears, know their days at this level are numbered and the only thing missing now is the big, fat R next to Saints' name in the league table.<br>They were picked apart by Nottingham Forest in a 100-minute match that might look like an even thriller on paper but, in reality, was a convincing and well-deserved home win. Taiwo Awoniyi scored his first brace for the club, Morgan Gibbs-White and Danilo added the others.<br> <br /> Saints' away following stayed long after the final whistle to applaud their team who stood in the rain with an apologetic look on their faces.  They've spent 196 days in the bottom three so fans have had time to process the blow but now the equation is simple. Win every game or go down.<br>It would be unfair to blame the Spanish boss for this monumental mess of a season but his appointment would stand out as one of the worst in Premier League history if not for the second of three men to occupy his seat this season, Nathan Jones, who won just one league game.<br>      (image:  )  Taiwo Awoniyi scored twice as Nottingham Forest claimed a massive win over Southampton<br>      (image:  )    Awoniyi opened the scoring midway through the first half with his first goal since January<br>      (image:  )    The forward then doubled the lead three minutes later with a fierce volley on the turn <br>So as one 11-year stay in the Premier League comes to an end, another team made a case to extend their status at the top level.  Forest played with pace, vigour and belief in the first half to roar into a 3-1 lead, then showed an uncommon valiant defensive steel to see out the win.<br>The City Ground was rocking before kick-off, with fan group Forza Garibaldi urging supporters to hold scarves aloft during a deafening rendition of Mull of Kintyre.  It is hard to think of a better atmosphere in English football than this place at its raucous best.<br>Saying that, though, most in here were a nervous wreck in the opening 10 minutes. From an eavesdropping mission across the Trent Bridge, the general verdict was ‘do or die' for Forest, who have two tricky away games in their final three.<br>‘We're so lucky to play in front of these supporters,' said Cooper, who walked into his press conference drying himself with a red towel.  ‘They don't half drag us over the line.<br>‘We talk openly about the relegation battle, we don't want elephants in the room. But we always bring it back to what we can do to influence it. We knew what went on (Everton winning 5-1) but never lost focus of what we needed to do.'<br>But any early Forest anxieties were soon calmed as Awoniyi opened the scoring on 18 minutes after a fantastic counter-attack started by a perfect Danilo pass and finished with Brennan Johnson squaring to the Nigerian to fire home.<br>It was Awoniyi's first league goal since January 4, also against Saints, which was also Forest's only away win of the season, with a staggering 27 of their 33 points this season coming at home.  With two away games to come, that stat underlined the importance of this game.<br>      (image:  )    the result all but secured relegation for Southampton, who are seven points from safety<br>      (image:  )    Morgan Gibbs-White scored his side's third from the spot after the Saints pulled one back<br>      (image:  )    Gibbs-White had been at fault for the Southampton goal but made up for it with his penalty <br>      (image:  )    Danilo finished off a fine move to make it 4-2 midway through the second half at City Ground<br>      (image:  )    James Ward-Prowse set up a nervy finish with his penalty but Forest managed to hold on<br>They gave themselves a good chance and found themselves two goals up just three minutes after Awoniyi's opener. <br><div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS sport" data-version="2" id="mol-ad1e8340-edf2-11ed-8355-ef5063e4f1ff" website Forest 4-3 Southampton: Steve Cooper&apos;s men edge thriller