David Johnson snatched a last-gasp winner as Nottingham Forest clinched their first away win since early October against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.

Wimbledon looked to have rescued a point after goals from Wayne Gray and Damien Francis in the space of four minutes cancelled out Marlon Harewood's first-half brace.

But Forest were not to be denied and Johnson volleyed home his 23rd goal of the season with virtually the last kick of the game in the third minute of injury-time.

Forest youngster Michael Dawson could have celebrated his new contract in style early on but his ambitious long-range effort was held by Kelvin Davis.

Looping

Harewood broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when Louis-Jean crossed from the right and the 23-year-old nipped in front of his marker to flash a header past Davis and in off the post.

Wimbledon were still reeling from that setback when Harewood doubled Forest's lead with a looping volley which took a deflection and left Davis stranded.

Wimbledon's afternoon appeared to go from bad to worse in the 55th minute when former Forest striker Shipperley suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Gray.

But it proved a blessing in disguise as the 22-year-old had only been on the pitch four minutes when he pulled a goal back with a low right-foot shot after good work by Ainsworth.

And the fightback was complete four minutes later when Francis was left with a simple tap-in after Patrick Agyemang's shot came back off the post.

It was the fifth successive game in which Forest had been pegged back after taking the lead but they refused to settle for a draw.

Johnson - who had scored both goals in Forest's 2-0 win against the Dons in August - had twice gone close to a winner before he finally found his range with a right-foot volley as his 23rd goal of the season stole the points.

Wimbledon: Davis, Leigertwood, Gier, Williams, Hawkins, Francis, Reo-Coker, Darlington, Agyemang, Shipperley, Ainsworth. Subs: Andersen, Nowland, Gray, Tapp, Gore.

Nottm Forest: Ward, Louis-Jean, Dawson, Doig, Brennan, Williams, Scimeca, Thompson, Reid, Johnson, Harewood. Subs: Hjelde, Roche, Bopp, Westcarr, Jess.

Referee: K Hill (Hertfordshire).