Barnsley 1-3 Nottingham Forest (EFL Championship) 29.09.21

It was a great night for Nottingham Forest who impressed in what ended to be a comfortable victory against fellow league strugglers Barnsley last night, Head Coach Steve Cooper’s first win in charge with the Reds now unbeaten in three, picking up seven points since the departure of Chris Hughton.

A feisty frantic first half saw exchanges at both ends, Forest in bright yellow and orange looking dangerous on the break verses their hosts in red who themselves had only won once this season.

On twenty minutes Tobias Figueiredo however got too close to his man, Cauley Woodrow rolling his Portuguese marker inside the box to win a penalty, and dispatch calmly past Brice Samba himself to put the Tykes one up.

Forest despite the early setback did not falter, their counter-attacking prowess saw Yates, magnificent on the night, play Johnson through but his cross was deflected behind for a corner. Cooper’s side playing a false nine in almost a 3-4-3 often catching Barnsley on the hop, the second half was much the same story as chances for Zinckernagel and Johnson went, before substitute Lewis Grabban, benched after picking up an injury against Millwall at the weekend, had an immediate impact on the hour, sending Johnson on his way through on goal, with the Welsh winger unselfish to square to Zinckernagel who tapped in to an empty net.

The Reds pace in attack often too much for the home sides defence to handle, only a few minutes later Zinckernagel sent Johnson on his way again, this time the speedster ran all the way into the box to finish coolly, despite the assistant referee’s flag, the last touch into Johnson’s path coming off a defender, Forest celebrations in front of the travelling army well and truly started.

Credit Cooper, who made good substitutions on the night, 1-0 down he took off Figs for Grabban which resulted in a goal, 2-1 up he brought on Colback for Garner to sure up midfield, then in the dying stages he brought on Mighten, for Lolley, like-for-like, rather than defensive protection, and that paid off dividends as the youngster dribbled past two players to set up Lewis Grabban with the easiest opportunity to tap home and finish off.

It could have been more, the Reds dominant in a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive performance, here’s to more of the same under Cooper who’s already having his name sung by Forest fans, suddenly the same set of players that couldn’t score a goal, or create a chance, at the start of the season, have been given the freedom to get forward and create havoc, and it’s an absolute joy on the eye when they do it.

Best performance of the season? By far. Still room for improvement, but this Forest side is a damn site better off now, then it was three weeks ago, and that is testament to the Coaching Staff and players, who have picked things up on their determination to improve.

Suddenly Reds fans can’t wait until the weekend and Birmingham City at St Andrews… And we’ve not felt like that for a while.

Barnsley: Collins, Moon, Helik, Kitching, Brittain, Palmer (Leya 72), Styles, Williams, Frieser (Adeboyejo 65), Odour (Gomes 80), Woodrow.

Nottingham Forest: Samba, Worrall, Figueiredo (Grabban 60), McKenna, Spence, Yates, Garner (Colback 71), Lowe, Zinckernagel, Lolley (Mighten 75), Johnson.

Venue: Oakwell (13,657)

*Main image @NFFC Philip Zinckernagel celebrates his goal for Nottingham Forest.