Nottingham Forest 1 United 0

Former Red and Academy graduate Anthony Elanga provided the decisive moment of the game, and only within a couple of minutes of the referee’s initial whistle, scoring with a solo effort on the counter-attack to make the crucial difference.

United fought for a way back into the contest, with Diogo Dalot hitting the crossbar in the first half, and a period of late pressure culminating in Harry Maguire's shot being cleared off the line at the death, but we were ultimately unable to take anything back home from the East Midlands.

FIRST HALF - ELANGA'S SOLO STRIKE

Following a 16-day period without a game, Ruben Amorim was able to bring a number of previously unavailable players back into his squad, including Leny Yoro and Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu to start – returning from injury and suspension, respectively.

Casemiro and Joshua Zirkzee made up four changes to our XI from beating Leicester City before the international break, with Altay Bayindir, Harry Maguire and Mason Mount all welcome returnees to our substitutes bench, too.

A couple of the mainstays of the side recently combined for the game’s first opening, when Matthijs de Ligt’s pressed high to win it back from Taiwo Awoniyi in the centre circle, before Garnacho quickly released the ball to Fernandes, whose drive from the edge of the area was parried wide by Matz Sels in the Forest goal.

The corner did indeed lead to the opening goal, but not as we’d hoped – with a former Red netting at the other end. Anthony Elanga pounced as Fernandes’s set-piece delivery was headed clear, racing away from the edge of his own box to the other, where he arrowed a composed finish beyond Andre Onana and into the bottom corner, with just five minutes on the clock.

That setback, after United looked to have started well, did not dispirit our search for an equaliser, as Garnacho crossed accurately from the right, only for Dorgu – making only his second Premier League start after serving a three-match ban – to be unfortunately nudged off the ball in the centre.

Casemiro then nodded wide of the near post from a Fernandes corner and, approaching the half-hour mark, that routine was almost repeated to devastating effect, as the skipper this time picked out Dalot in a similar spot, with the defender’s header across goal rebounding off the crossbar. Elanga had also made another mazy run into the box at the other end, but this time was stopped in his tracks.

Dorgu also had a headed opportunity but could not connect properly with Dalot’s right-flank delivery, while Morato – one of two Forest substitutes late in the half, replacing the injured Ola Aina – also nodded goalwards in first-half stoppage-time, forcing Onana to save.

Casemiro looked to equalise on the stroke of half-time, following patient build-up down our left as he was teed up by Fernandes just outside the box, but fired wide – meaning we went in at the break pondering solutions for the second half.

SECOND HALF - NO BREAKTHROUGH

Rasmus Hojlund was brought on for the start of the second half with Manuel Ugarte making way, immediately making his presence felt in attack, running in behind to meet Garnacho’s pass and shooting from the angle, with a defender’s touch earning him a corner.

But like in the first half, while United created the first opening following the restart, Forest caused their own problems in attack quickly afterwards. There was no goal to follow the United corner this time, but Andre Onana must have thought he’d stopped one when he heroically palmed clear Ryan Yates’s close-range header, even if he wasn’t to know that it would almost certainly have been ruled out for offside.

We were unable to create as much as we’d have liked in the early stages of the second half, though Hojlund offered encouragement in attack, appearing sharp off the bench, while Garnacho was unfortunate with a quickfire pair of chances midway through the half – latching on to a Fernandes ball and having a shot deflect wide. From the resulting corner, he shot narrowly off target – again, seemingly with the help of a slight touch off Morgan Gibbs-White, but play resumed with a goal-kick.

Fernandes found De Ligt with a free-kick as our pressure began to intensify, the defender heading across goal and Hojlund getting the next touch, but failed to match the run of Zirkzee, and Garnacho fired a frustrated effort over the bar shortly afterwards.

Hojlund held it up well down the left side of the box but sold Garnacho just short in seeking to tee him up, before Dorgu headed an expert Fernandes cross straight at Sels, and another attempt from Mount – moments after making his return from the bench – flashed agonisingly wide of the post from the edge of the box.

A rare opportunity for the hosts – aside from a couple of optimistic penalty shouts – saw Awoniyi turn well in the box to shoot, only to be denied by a crucial block from Noussair Mazraoui. Neco Williams also tried his luck in stoppage-time, but was unable to get a difficult volleyed chance on target.

A dramatic period of six additional minutes were signalled, and at the start of those closing quarters, Harry Maguire – brought on just before and deployed in an attacking role – found himself in the opposition area, but diverted Dorgu’s delivery back across goal and wide.

United applied all the pressure late on, very nearly finding an equaliser at the death, as Mazraoui’s cross hung dangerously at the back post and seemed to have been prodded home when it landed at the feet of Maguire, but a heroic clearance off the line from Murillo confirmed it wasn’t to be our night at The City Ground.

FOREST

Line-up: Sels; Aina (Morato 38), Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams; Anderson (Dominguez 66), Yates; Elanga (Sangare 86), Gibbs-White, Danilo (Moreno 38); Awoniyi (Sosa 86).

Subs not used: Miguel, Toffolo, Dominguez, Jota, Boly.

Goal: Elanga 5.

Booked: Williams 72.

UNITED

Line-up: Onana; De Ligt, Yoro (Maguire 88), Mazraoui; Dalot, Casemiro (Eriksen 59), Ugarte (Hojlund 46), Dorgu; Garnacho, Fernandes; Zirkzee (Mount 78).

Subs not used: Bayindir, Lindelof, Amass, Kone, Collyer.

Booked: Casemiro 50, Eriksen 78.