Nottingham Forest 3 Leeds United 1: Substitutions make the difference to drop Leeds into sticky situation — Yorkshire Post 9/11/25
By Stuart Rayner
Nottingham Forest 3 Leeds United 1 A sticky situation got
much stickier for Leeds United at the weekend.
Substitutions ensured that the scoreline at Nottingham
Forest reflected the game, with Omari Hutchinson coming off the bench to make a
goal and win a penalty for Nottingham Forest.
It was almost poetic that Daniel Farke's gamble to throw
Jack Harrison on as a makeshift left-back hammered the decisive nail in the
coffin.
Without the substitutions Sean Dyche made and Farke did
belatedly, maybe Leeds might have got away with a below-par performance,
although probably not.
But given Forest a leg-up with their first Premier League
win under Dyche has changed the complexion of a table which was looking much
better a fortnight ago.
Leeds remain on course for manager Farke's point-per-game
target, but with games against Aston Villa, Manchester City, Chelsea and
Liverpool after the international break, for how much longer?
On Saturday they dropped to within a point of the relegation
zone, so taking something from Forest – who even now are in it – became even
more important.
But Leeds just did not turn up, second best in pretty much
every department and deservedly beaten 3-1.
Now Dyche’s are one of three teams within a win of Leeds.
West Ham have won back-to-back games since stinking out Elland Road two weeks
ago.
It had all started so well, back-to-back pieces of
brilliance earning Leeds something rare this season – not just an away goal,
but the opening goal, against the run of play.
Lucas Perri was on his backside when a Morgan Gibbs-White
shot took a deflection but he managed to keep it out and claw the loose ball
away before anyone could finish.
In no time at all Leeds were in front, Noah Okafor nicking
the ball and helping it to Brenden Aaronson, who played it to Lukas Nmecha for
a calm finish.
But just as quickly Forest were level, Perri blotting his
copybook by pushing a Dan Ndoye cross into danger for Ibrahim Sangare.
Not even the most one-eyed of Leeds fans could claim they
deserved to be in front, their passing slack, their defending shaky and
Nmecha's hold-up play with an adductor strain confining Dominic Calvert-Lewin
to the bench leaving much to be desired.
Minutes after seeing Ndoye come inside Okafor and shoot
wide, Perri had to save again and did so very unconvincingly, tapping the ball
down and almost seeing it bounce into his shins after Leeds were undone by a
fairly straight-forward long ball.
He was much more secure with a Gibbs-White shot hit
forcefully at him later in the half.
A hungry-looking Okafor was Leeds' best player, as much for
his work going backwards as forwards, as seems to be the way for their wingers
this season. But even he caught the bug, sloppily giving the ball away to
Gibbs-White and coming inside to foul him in a vain attempt to make amends.
The visitors' malaise was summed up when Sean Longstaff
tried to thread a free-kick down the line but ended up passing it to the wall.
The second half brought no great improvement until Farke
turned to his bench with his team behind.
Nodye forced his way through and resisted the temptation to
take a tumble after feeling a nudge from Joe Rodon. With the way referee Jarred
Gillet's confidence had evaporated there was no way of knowing how he would
have reacted, and whilst Ndoye was able to find Igor Jesus, the ball was behind
him and was put wide with a deflection.
An excellent Gabriel Gudmundsson run took him from his own
half to Forest's byline but the cross was cut out.
Even with his team on top, Sean Dyche felt the need to make
a triple change, whilst Farke demurred. He who dared won the next goal.
Anton Stach and Nico Williams clattered into one another by
the touchline, sparking an angry melee and when the game restarted Forest swept
a deep free-kick out to the newly-introduced Omari Hutchinson. Arriving in the
centre of goal in far too much space, Gibbs-White glanced his header in.
Only then did Farke change his team, and Daniel James
quickly had a couple of shots, one producing an excellent Matz Sels save.
Calvert-Lewin headed over at a corner.
But his second wave of substitutions saw winger Harrison
thrown on at left-back in an attempt to go for broke and it backfired when in
the 89th minute he clipped the heels of Hutchinson just as the winger got into
the penalty area.
Elliot Anderson made no mistake from 12 yards.
There were always going to be tough spells for Leeds in the
top division, and this is certainly one.
