Lee Bullen was in charge of Sheffield Wednesday after Carlos Carvalhal left the club on Christmas Eve
Lee Bullen earned victory in his first game as interim manager as Sheffield Wednesday ended a seven-game winless run by beating Nottingham Forest.
Adam Reach's superb long-range shot and a Jordan Rhodes penalty put the Owls in control of an open match at the break.
Forest had missed four decent chances to level, notably through Barrie McKay.
But they were second best after Rhodes' spot-kick and Reach teed up Lucas Joao to seal an emphatic win and consign Forest to a fourth loss in six.
The Reds, chasing a sixth home win in seven matches, had responded impressively to Reach's sweet fifth-minute strike following a corner.
Ben Brereton dragged an effort wide after a bustling run, Kieren Dowell had a long-range shot well saved by Joe Wildsmith - who made even better stops to deny McKay and Ben Osborn.
But Wednesday, who parted company with head coach Carlos Carvalhal on Christmas Eve after a fourth consecutive defeat, were much more solid after Rhodes sent keeper Jordan Smith the wrong way from the penalty spot following Tyler Walker's push on Morgan Fox.
And the main goal threat came from the visitors, with Smith adding to a list of decent saves by keeping out Portuguese striker Joao's rasping strike as Wednesday moved up to 14th in the table, one point and one place behind Forest.
Nottingham Forest manager Mark Warburton:
"We have lost 3-0 so I cannot stand here and give you too many positives.
"The first goal, we might have cleared our lines better, but it was a wonder strike. Then I thought we created lots of chances, including three clear one-on-ones, as well as numerous balls across the face of goal.
"The simple thing is putting the ball in the back of the net. For all the chances you create, you have to get your rewards for them. We did not do that.
"The decision for the penalty - I am totally bemused by. We have watched it time and again. I cannot see it.
"We found ourselves 2-0 down at half-time and the crowd, quite rightly, got restless. It was a huge crowd and we let them down. We never showed the quality to get something after the break. But to create that many chances and not score is tough to take."
Sheffield Wednesday interim boss Lee Bullen:
"It was a bittersweet day, because ultimately a man has lost his job a couple of days ago and he is a really good man and a really good coach.
"Sometimes the players have to take a little bit of responsibility for that. They have done - they have put their hands up and admitted that we have not played to the standards that we can.
"That is the saddest thing about modern football - sometimes you get that bounce after a change. I am gutted personally for the man, because he is a good friend of mine. I am sure he will bounce back into football.
"But how many times do you see that kind of reaction? More often than not people say, 'How the heck have they produced that?', when they have not seen that over the past five or six weeks.
"It was a fabulous win for us. Possession-wise, they had twice as much of the ball as us. But we have to be really pleased with that performance."
