MARK WARBURTON admits Nottingham Forest are in the relegation mire ahead of their final day shoot-out for survival.

The former Rangers boss saw his side crash to a 2-0 defeat against fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Forest are now level on points with Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn following their win over Aston Villa and are only out of the bottom three by virtue of their superior goal difference.

Warburton must now hope his side better Rovers’ result on Sunday when they round off the campaign at home to Ipswich as he looks to avoid dropping into League One just months after his controversial Ibrox exit.

Warburton said: "We are in the mire, we are in a fight.

“I have said that to the boys. They are battle hardened, they have coped with pressure and they showed against Reading how good they can be.

"The last day is going to be tense, but we have to focus. We have to work hard, we have to prepare and we have to make sure we are ready.

"It is going to be a tough fight, but we are back at home at the City Ground, on a good playing surface, and we know what we have to do.

"We have to go out and deliver a performance and get the result we need.

"Against QPR, at half-time we felt 0-0 was about right, because it had been a six out of 10 performance. We made a mistake for the goal and got punished. I always talk about getting your rewards - and we did not do that.

"We created plenty of chances. But stats mean nothing if you do not get your rewards. We did not take our chances, it is as simple as that.

"We knew that if we beat QPR we would go above them and the fact is that I did not feel that threatened by them.

"We got punished for a mistake, but that happens - and at that point you need to get your rewards when you get your chances. We had six or seven and we did not take them.”