Nottingham Forest 4 Southampton 3
A few minutes before kick-off, as has become tradition, Steve Cooper emerged from the Nottingham Forest tunnel to a wall of noise, another feverish atmosphere. Long before taking a seat in the home dugout Cooper inhaled deeply and a prolonged puff of the cheeks followed. Perhaps he had anticipated the wild ride that was to come.
This was not a night that was good for the blood pressure but by the end Forest, courtesy of a Taiwo Awoniyi double, a Morgan Gibbs-White penalty and a late strike by Danilo, had wrapped up a brilliant win over bottom club Southampton and a precious three points, breathing life into their bid for Premier League survival.
With three games to play, Forest’s heads are above water. How they fare at home to Arsenal and away at Chelsea and Crystal Palace, the latter on the final day, will determine their season. Mathematically, Southampton can survive but it will take a miracle from here.
Perhaps it was no surprise that this game was played at a breathless pace given both teams’ pressing need for points. Any hope generated from Leicester’s pummelling at Fulham quickly evaporated by the time Everton coasted to a surprise victory at Brighton. There is something special about games under the lights here at the best of times and filthy conditions only enhanced an entertaining, if sometimes slapstick, encounter.
Nothing epitomised the wild nature of this game more than Brennan Johnson burning past Armel Bella-Kotchap after 10 minutes, leaving the Southampton centre back floundering like Scrappy-Doo and then on all fours. Jan Bednarek did brilliantly to prevent Johnson locating an unmarked Awoniyi. Bella-Kotchap injured himself trying to keep up and headed down the tunnel with the help of two Southampton medical staff.
Forest were roared off the pitch at half-time, their two-goal buffer restored after Gibbs-White sent Alex McCarthy the wrong way from the penalty spot. A split-second after controlling the ball in the Southampton box, Ainsley Maitland-Niles pressed self-destruct, whacking the Achilles of the lively Johnson. Gibbs-White made no mistake.
Awoniyi had got the ball rolling on 18 minutes when he swept home Johnson’s neat centre and three minutes later the striker doubled his and Forest’s tally. The goal stemmed from Serge Aurier getting the better of Carlos Alcaraz and Southampton repeatedly failed to clear their lines. Forest recycled the ball and Danilo helped it on to Awoniyi with a clever touch with the outside of his left foot. Awoniyi smacked in past McCarthy on the spin. The City Ground was rocking.
Southampton began the brighter and had the game’s first real chance. The returning Ché Adams, who had an early sighter, would have fancied his chances of hitting the target on seven minutes had Felipe not reacted smartly to his shot by putting up the Forest walls with something of a long barrier. Forest seemed comfortable after exposing Southampton’s soft centre but the visitors replied on 25 minutes when Alcaraz applied the finishing touch to a slick counterattack. James Ward-Prowse nicked the ball from Gibbs-White inside his own half and released Adams.
Suddenly, Southampton were three v two and the industrious Adams picked out Stuart Armstrong to his left. Armstrong unselfishly slid the ball across the six-yard box for Alcaraz to control, then tuck into Keylor Navas’s goal. Rubén Sellés, bouncing on the touchline, tried to energise his team. Theo Walcott, one of three changes from Southampton’s hammering at Newcastle, went close to an equaliser but then Maitland-Niles, who struggled to cope with Johnson, gifted Forest a penalty. From there it always seemed Southampton would be in for a long night.
Dead and buried? Southampton scoring within five minutes of the restart was not part of the script. Sellés seemingly had to convince Bednarek and Lyanco, who replaced Bella-Kotchap, to go up for an early second-half corner. Ward-Prowse’s inswinger landed on in the Forest the six-yard box and Lyanco eluded Felipe to head in. A couple of minutes later a Ward-Prowse free-kick, and another wicked delivery, caused more problems. Lyanco forced a save from Navas.
Now it was Forest who were feeling the heat. Kamaldeen Sulemana, on in place of Walcott, skipped past Renan Lodi and rattled a shot into the side netting via a deflection. From the resulting Ward-Prowse corner, Lyanco again won the first header but Navas punched clear before the lurking Adams could welly in.
Southampton could smell blood but Forest seemingly put the game to bed in style. Johnson was again the catalyst. He cut the ball back for Gibbs-White, whose cute flick on the penalty spot ran perfectly for Danilo to lash in. The Forest substitutes’ bench – even Aurier, who departed injured – emptied to join the celebrations and the rain-soaked Cooper darted off along the touchline in glee.
Ward-Prowse’s late penalty, after Sam Surridge clipped Roméo Lavia, set up a tense finale but Forest held on. – Guardian
