There are home crowds who cheer goals less than the Bridgford Stand celebrated Nico Williams earning a goal-kick when tackling Leon Bailey in stoppage time as Nottingham Forest deservedly won for the first time in more than two months, denying Aston Villa a passageway into the top four of the Premier League.
Goals early in each half, set up by Harry Toffolo for Ola Aina and for Orel Mangala, gave Forest the platform to halt Villa’s freescoring start to the season. The West Midlands side had scored 26 times in their first 10 top-flight games, their best effort since 1931.
With the Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis in attendance, the pressure was on Steve Cooper and his players. And how they responded, the standard but vociferously heartfelt chants of “Mull of Kintyre” and “Stevie Cooper” having barely subsided when they took the lead in the fifth minute, and the manager’s punches to the crowd were cheered from all four corners of the ground after the final whistle.
For all the fact they had not won for six league games, Forest have still been loud and proud at the City Ground. They have only lost two of their last 20 top-flight home games, and the atmosphere remains as impassioned and feral as ever, a positive cycle if ever there was one.
Before kick-off, both sets of players had come and shown their support to the young bugler whose version of the Last Post, on the Sunday before Remembrance Day, finished a couple of bars early. But it was Forest who were soon celebrating.
Some neat interplay down the left wing culminated in Toffolo pulling his low cross back outside the penalty area. If the forwards were initially disappointed not to receive the service, they were delighted when Aina arrived from right-back to crack a low shot into the bottom corner for his first goal since signing from Torino in the summer. It was also Forest’s first goal in the opening half for eight matches.
Toffolo’s recall was one of several brave changes by Cooper. He moved away from the five-man backline utilised for the 3-0 defeat at Liverpool, recalling Taiwo Awoniyi up front with Willy Boly the centre-back dropping out, and also gave Odysseas Vlachodimos his debut in goal in place of the fragile Matt Turner.
Content to concede possession while threatening on the counterattack against Villa’s remarkably high backline, Forest protected their new goalkeeper superbly. Apart from a couple of half chances for Nicolò Zaniolo, Moussa Diaby caught in two minds when sidefooting over a volley, and Ollie Watkins glancing a header wide, Villa had very little to show for the 70% control they had of the ball.
Indeed Forest could have been two ahead earlier. Awoniyi was bundled over by Pau Torres in the penalty area but Nicolás Dominguez was marginally offside in the buildup, although Toffolo was relieved when Matty Cash’s header struck his hand in the area but VAR preferred not to question Jarred Gillett’s on-field decision.
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Villa, so brilliant at home in their best 10-game start to a Premier League season in 25 years, had not learned from their hesitant start to the first half. In the second half it was within two minutes that Toffolo pulled his cross back to outside the penalty area; this time it was Mangala who let fly and, although Emiliano Martínez saved the shot, he misjudged its flight and sent the ball spinning back and over the line. It was a goalkeeping mistake (unlike last week when Luton’s goal rebounded in off the keeper’s head) but no one was denying Mangala his first goal of the season.
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Villa’s slick interplay again reflected that of an elite team, and Bailey’s introduction at the interval offered the threat of more width and pace, but with a two-goal lead and their home crowd behind them Forest were in a place they loved. Backs to the wall, nights creeping in, the prospect of an upset against a high-end team, their beloved manager under pressure, Forest dug in their heels and saw the game over the line.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
