Aston Villa (H) 14/12/24

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa 

Milenkovic 87'                              Duran 63'

Elanga 90+3'

A Saturday 5:30 kick-off on a cold Winter evening. My favourite. Our visitors travelling from one Midlands to another. A team to admire; they gained promotion in 2019 and are now playing Champions League football. Forest looking to replicate this achievement. Two old European giants, having lifted that trophy before. Both teams level on points before kick-off. We were bound for a good game.

Both sides were coming into the fixture after a 3-2 away win. For Forest, this was at Old Trafford last Saturday where we won there for the first time in thirty years. As for Villa, they succeeded over RB Leipzig in midweek in the Champions League. In the meetings last season, each side won at their home ground. A 2-0 win for the Reds at the City Ground and a six goal thriller ending 4-2 in Villa’s favour at Villa Park. However, Forest’s win last November has been their only one against the Villains in the two sides last eleven top-flight meetings.

Kick-off marked Forest’s 5000^th match in the top 4 tiers of English football, only the 12^th team to do so. The game started slow, with Forest happy to let the visitors have the majority of possession. Neither side could get going and chances were coming to nothing. Forest looked to work down their left side in every attacking phase and Villa picked this out to stop any threat. The hosts were calling out for a focal point on the right to put Villa off. The visitors weren’t doing much with their possession either and it wasn’t until the 31^st minute that we had the first real chance of the game. Elliot Anderson whipped in a corner from the right and Murillo rose the highest to meet it but could only head narrowly wide of the left post. Villa had a headed chance of their own through Ezri Konsa. John McGinn sent a free-kick in from the right which the right-back got up well to meet but could only flick it wide of the post. Matty Cash looked to score against his boyhood club as he fired a low shot on goal from the edge of the area but Sels got down well to stop it.

A boring first 45 in all honesty. Both sides keeping their shape well and looking tough to break down. Forest could be argued to be on top as they pushed Villa back but they didn’t do much with their pressure. Little did we know what was to come in the second half!

The second 45 started relatively even with both sides managing some attacking play. However, it was Forest who remained slightly on top. They were denied the opener following an unbelievable save from Yachin award winner Emi Martinez. At the near post, Gibbs-White flicked on an Anderson corner from the left. Nicolas Dominguez was the next player to meet the ball as he ducked to head towards goal. It almost looked set on that Forest were going to take the lead but somehow after facing the wrong way, the Villa ’keeper knew where the ball was and scooped it off the line for his defenders to clear. That will definitely win save of the season! Just moments later after Martinez’s heroics, it was the hosts that took the lead. Morgan Rogers drifted in from the right before playing a one two with Jhon Duran. Villa’s number 27 looked to continue his run but was fouled by Ryan Yates. The referee played advantage as McGinn picked up the ball and played out to Luca Digne on the left. He played it back to McGinn on the edge of the area who dinked in a ball for Duran to head beyond Sels. Fans are saying Sels should do better, but I think he was unsighted from the strikers movement and the header has so much direction and pace on it.

Forest looked to get back into the game but were yet again denied by Martinez. Neco Williams found space to shoot towards the near left post, but the goalkeeper got down well to parry it away. Nuno was really going for the game now. Bringing on both Jota Silva and Anthony Elanga for his 2 midfielders. It was all or nothing. The hosts thought they had got themselves back into the game but were denied after a VAR check for offside. Callum Hudson-Odoi had played it to Gibbs-White across the edge of the box who picked out the run of Elanga. He got beyond Digne to fire a cross low across the box for Wood to slide in and poke home. After a lengthy check, Elanga was deemed offside by the tiniest of margins. However, just minutes later, Forest were level and this time it stood. Villa cleared the original corner from Anderson but only to Williams on the edge of the area. He did well to pick out Gibbs-White in space in the box who delivered a ball into the 6-yard box from the right. Martinez looked to have both hands on the close range header from Nikola Milenkovic but it slipped through his gloves to give Forest the leveller.

The 4^th official’s board showed 7 minutes injury time. Was there still time for a late winner? You bet there was. The Reds’ attack was cleared once by Villa, however, their second attempt to clear was via a pass to Cash which Anderson managed to win back and break into the area. He nutmegged Andre Onana as he pulled back into the danger area from the byline and after brilliant movement from Elanga, he fired through Martinez’s legs from close range to send the City Ground into madness. Villa looked to find a leveller late on, but Forest remained resilient to see out their first comeback win of the season.

Wow, what a game we had yesterday. The first had nothing to offer and it was quite boring from my perspective. We kept playing down our left which was easy to defend against. There was a penalty shout from Villa as Elliot had Rogers arm but originally I think it’s a foul on Elliot as Rogers almost takes his shirt off. The second half was much more exciting especially at the end and I think we deserved the win. The offside was really harsh and if we hadn’t won it would’ve been frustrating. I loved our don’t give up mentality and even after the equaliser we just picked the ball up and ran back in search of a winner because Nuno has installed it within us to never stop believing in ourselves. The winner could be deemed a foul on Cash but you need a bit of luck to win at times. Elliot was my man of the match but the substitutes definitely made the difference and impacted the game. Really proud of the boys. COYR!

Forest: Sels; Williams, Murillo (Morato 68'), Milenkovic, Aina; Yates (Jota Silva 68'), Dominguez (Elanga 77'); Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi (Boly 90'); Wood 

Aston Villa: Martinez; Digne (Maatsen 90'), Torres, Diego Carlos, Konsa; Kamara (Barkley 90'), Tielemans (Onana 74'); Cash, Rogers, McGinn; Duran (Watkins 74')