Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds United: Hosts come from behind to claim first league win since opening day
It was a vital three points for Forest
Nottingham Forest came from behind to beat Leeds United 3-1 at the City Ground to give Sean Dyche his first win as manager and the hosts their first Premier League victory since the opening day of the season.
Ibrahim Sangare scored his first goal in a Forest shirt before Morgan Gibbs-White and an Elliot Anderson penalty gave the hosts all three points after Lukas Nmecha had broken the deadlock for Leeds.
Forest were searching for their first top-flight win since their opening day victory over Brentford. They were made to wait, but more than two months and three managers later they finally achieved it to move to within a point of escaping the drop zone.
It was a result that Forest thoroughly deserved after dominating for large periods. Leeds, meanwhile, offered very little after going in front and remain in 16th, just one point outside the bottom three.
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A frantic first 15 minutes
Forest began brightly, Gibbs-White forcing Lucas Perri to parry from an edge-of-the-box strike as early as the second minute.
Ten minutes later, the Leeds stopper produced two wonderful saves in quick succession to first prevent a deflected shot from the Forest skipper and then react quickly to beat away the rebound.
But just as the visitors appeared to be under pressure, Nmecha gave them the lead against the run of play, finishing well from just inside the area.
The Forest response, however, was immediate. From a delivery into the Leeds box, Sangare reacted quickest to the loose ball, rifling home the equaliser at the end of the breathless first quarter of an hour.
Things started to settle down from there, with the rest of the half failing to live up to the intensity of the opening 15 minutes.
Forest push on for victory
The hosts ramped up the pressure after the break, but Dyche’s men could not carve out any clear-cut chances despite their dominance.
That was until the 68th minute when Omari Hutchinson, on as a substitute, delivered an enticing cross from Forest’s right which was met by Gibbs-White.
The England international, arriving in the six-yard box, cleverly glanced the ball beyond Perri to put his side in front.
Hutchinson was again instrumental in Forest’s third, driving into the box as the clock ticked over into 90 minutes before going down under a clumsy recovery challenge by Jack Harrison.
Anderson dispatched the resulting spot-kick in emphatic fashion to elicit jubilant cheers from the home fans. And, perhaps, a big sigh of relief.