Nottm Forest 2 Sheff Utd 1
Steve Cooper’s side welcomed newly promoted Sheff Utd to the City Ground, knowing that these kind of games are the ones his side need to win to achieve their aims this season. Despite their flirting with relegation last campaign, they made their ground a fortress, taking 30 of their 38 points at home. It can be an intimidating atmosphere and the Forest fans continued to make the City Ground a daunting away game for anyone in the Premier League.
Cooper’s Forest are happy to let sides come onto them at home and look to pick them off on the break, utilising the pace of Taiwo Awoniyi. Serge Aurier put a fantastic cross into the box, picking out the striker, who thundered a header into the back of the net with only three minutes on the clock. It made it 8 goals in his last 6 Premier League games for Awoniyi.
The visitors struggled with the Forest counter-attack throughout the first half, looking stretched when the hosts came forward, playing with slick passing. Morgan Gibbs-White is integral to everything that Nottingham Forest do and Steve Cooper knows that he will have to manage the player’s game time well to ensure they do not lose him at any point in the season. Brennan Johnson offers pace that will test any side and made some intelligent runs into the channels for his teammates to find.
When it comes to set pieces, it is Gibbs-White who often is the person supplying the ammunition and his pinpoint balls found their target more often than not. At corners in particular, he seems to pick out Boly who has a real presence in the opponents penalty area.
Credit: @NFFC
As much as Sheff Utd huffed and puffed it was not until the 33rd minute that they drew the first save from Matt Turner in the Forest goal. Vinicius Souza picked the ball up after a poor clearance from the hosts and looked to bend one in the top corner from some 25 yards out. Turner watched the ball all of the way and made a comfortable save diving to his left.
One thing that will have annoyed the manager is that Forest were the architects of their problems more often than not, gifting possession back to their opponents in dangerous areas of the pitch. As Sheff Utd started to dominate possession, the home fans went quiet and a corner from the visitors wasn’t dealt with by McKenna and Egan almost turned it in at the back post with Turner gratefully holding onto the ball.
In the closing moments of the half, Gibbs-White showed some great skills to leave two Sheff Utd players heading to the shops but as he strode towards goal, his effort to put the ball in the top corner from distance went harmlessly over the crossbar. The first half was quite an even affair but the damage had been done with the early Awoniyi goal that separated the two sides at the break.
Sheff Utd started the second half on the front foot, as the cross was fed into the box it was glanced on at the near post and Ahmedhodzic looked to fire home but it was well blocked, at the expense of a corner. Forest failed to completely clear the corner and Gustavo Hamer took one touch on the edge of the box to control it and bent his shot into the top corner, leaving Turner with no chance. A first goal for The Blades for the man signed from Coventry in the summer.
Steve Cooper will be livid with his team’s defending, getting themselves in all sorts of trouble, failing to do the simple things in clearing the ball. The ball broke to Norwood outside of the box who shot and had Turner scrambling across his goal, relieved to see the effort go just wide of the post.
Nottingham Forest dropped 27 points from winning positions last season and were looking at replicating that, but thought they had regained the lead when Awoniyi lifted the ball over Foderingham but the assistant immediately raised his flag for offside. The striker had set off on his run just a little early, straying into an offside position as the replay confirmed. Gibbs-White hit a low corner in that was touched on by Aurier, Boly then trying to turn the ball in at the near post but Foderingham made a great reaction save to keep it out.
Credit: @SheffieldUnited
Neither side were content with a point as both pressed, trying to find a winner. Traore shook off his two markers when it came to a routine ball over the top and only the heroics of Matt Turner could keep the scores level as he dived to his right to prevent the ball nestling in the bottom corner. What the visitors did better than Steve Cooper’s side in this game was the old Chris Kamara mantra…..stop the cross! So often their defenders put sliding challenges in to prevent Forest getting the ball into the danger area, keeping their attempts at goal extremely limited.
Just as it looked like if anyone was going to get a winner, it may be the visitors, Aurier puts another sublime cross into the box and substitute Chris Wood glanced a brilliant header passed Foderingham to break the visitors’ hearts in the 90th minute. Such is the way in football this season, the game is far from over at this point, as the board was raised to show an additional 8 minutes were to be played. Forest held on, took all three points, having been forced to work hard for their first Premier League win of the season.
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