Nottingham Forest 0-1 Huddersfield Town (EFL Championship) 30.12.21
A disappointing end to 2020 for Nottingham Forest who were somehow beaten at home against the Terriers no thanks to a Duane Holmes strike on the half hour and some poor very finishing on the night.
Forest made several changes from the side that were beaten at Middlesbrough on Boxing Day but for no luck or points progress as Steve Cooper suffers two successive defeats for the first time since taking charge at the City Ground as Head Coach.
One positive about the Reds taking nothing from the Christmas fixture so far, perhaps coming at a time ahead of the January window opening, Forest certainly need full back cover, especially if they are to lose Djed Spence, they need something in attack, and possibly an extra spark of creation too. Watching the last two games, the board will have seen that for themselves.
It could have been the worst possible start after just one minute of the match, from kick off Forest lost the ball and Sorba Thomas tried his luck from long-range thumping the ball against the top of the crossbar in front of the packed Trent End.
Zinckernagel tried his own luck from range which safely landed into the arms of Nicholls before Silva threatened down the left to cross into Johnson who headed over, on thirty minutes the Reds fell behind to the eventual winner as Holmes played a one-two with Toffolo down the left and shot through Samba’s near post to send Huddersfield on their way to a third successive league win.
James Garner thumped an effort from outside the box inches wide in immediate response before Joe Worrall did the same, from a Zinckernagel cross just twelve yards out, the big centre half should have done better to hit the target and provide Forest with a leveller.
Minutes before half time Forest thought they had it, Zinckernagel’s powerful effort crashing down off the crossbar and away to safety. Silva then shot straight at Nicholl’s from inside the area, chances coming and going continued in the second half as Zinckernagel danced through to shoot wide before Huddersfield themselves tested the palms of Samba when O’Brien’s long-range effort was parried over the bar.
Forest rallied as Xande Silva continued to threaten, he shot at Nicholl’s but Brennan Johnson prodded the rebound into the side netting, it certainly wasn’t the Reds night in front of goal with a hatful of guilt edged chances missed, that could easily of turned the score around.
Steve Cooper said after “I saw a lot of good things today and a lot of things I really liked, so we won’t lose sight of that.”
“We’ve played well and that’s good because that’s how we want to play, but you want to play that way to win games and that’s what we need to continue to look to do.”
“With the chances we had we should’ve scored, there’s no doubt about that. We could talk all day about about the missed chances and the goal we conceded but it’s happened.”
The defeat means Forest sit ninth in the table, Huddersfield in sixth, themselves unbeaten in five. Next up for the Reds is second bottom Barnsley at home on January 3rd in a game the Reds will be hopeful of winning.
Nottingham Forest: Samba, Spence, Worrall, McKenna, Colback, Zinckernagel (Carvalho 80), Ojeda (Cafu 67), Garner, Silva (Taylor 72), Johnson, Grabban.
Huddersfield Town: Nicholls, Colwill, Pearson, Turton, Thomas (Koroma 68), Toffolo, High, O’Brien, Sinani (Pipa 76), Ward (Rhodes 15), Holmes.
Venue: City Ground
*Main image @NFFC substitute Lyle Taylor in action for Forest.
