Nottingham Forest end Derby County’s run of good form in heated local derby

Nottingham Forest continued their surge towards the play-off positions in the Championship as they beat local rivals Derby County 2-1 at The City Ground.

Goals from Lewis Grabban and Brennan Johnson ensured Forest retained The Brian Clough Trophy following an intense battle. In the heat of the atmosphere, a personal dual between Derby’s Tom Lawrence and Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba was a key thread throughout the 90 minutes.

Despite a scrappy start to the game, the visitors were having more joy with the ball as they began to knit passes together whilst the Reds struggled to find any rhythm.

It was the Rams that should have taken the lead on 16 minutes. As Jason Knight cut infield to find Lawrence on the edge of the box, the Welsh international burst to life and having skipped past an initial challenge, he exchanged passes with Colin Kazim-Richards to find himself with a direct route to goal.

Lawrence seemed to snatch at his shot, driving the ball into the ground and wide of the goal much to the relief of Samba and the home support. Given the form that the forward had been in last weekend against Sheffield United, it was a bad miss by his standards and it was a miss that Derby would go onto rue.

Missing Joe Worrall with broken ribs, Ryan Yates initially started in the back three. With Derby enjoying possession, Cooper opted to change formation to a flat-four and nudged Yates into his more familiar centre midfield role.

The change immediately stopped Derby as an attacking force, and it was Yates that hit Forest’s first attempt on target with a left-footed shot that Allsop forced away.

Keinan Davis, played in by Jack Colback’s lob over the top, could not control the bouncing ball as Allsop rushed out of goal and did enough to put the striker off despite shouts from the stands that there had been contact between the two.

Lawrence found himself in a foot race with Forest’s Scott McKenna as the game neared the break. With the ball hurtling into the box, Brice Samba was alert to the danger. As he dived to smother the ball, he collided with the Derby captain’s standing leg and needed a number of minutes to recover after receiving a heavy knock to his head.

As television pictures showed, Samba was left with a two-inch lump on his forehead and understandably looking dazed. Forest’s substitute goalkeeper Evan Horvath was immediately spoken with to prepare himself.

Still, as Samba got back to his feet and with another 15 minutes to recover at the break, it was no surprise to see him come out for the second half with his head heavily strapped.

Forest started the second half positively and took the lead on 47 minutes. McKenna headed James Garner’s floated free-kick back across the box, and as Davis teed up Yates to get a shot away, the ball deflected fortunately into Lewis Grabban’s path, who instantly took the ball down before rifling into the back of the net.

The goal lifted the roof inside The City Ground, but Derby almost pegged themselves level shortly afterwards. Following some ping-pong in the Forest box, the ball fell to substitute Ravel Morrison, however, McKenna did magnificently and deflected the ball wide for a corner as the midfielder got his shot away on goal.

It was a big moment and Forest doubled their lead on 82 minutes after getting away with the let-off.

Good work from Djed Spence got Forest moving along the right touchline, and as Brennan Johnson beautifully switched the play, Philip Zinckernagel progressed into the box. He squared the ball to the on-rushing Johnson and the Forest youngster slid the ball home to rapturous noise.

Derby were given an unlikely lifeline when Steve Cook lunged into Lawrence inside the box to concede a clear penalty. As Lawrence dispatched the spot-kick, he was involved in a melee inside the net with Samba as the Forest goalkeeper tried to stop the Derby man from getting on with the restart quickly.

Samba appeared to lift his arm at Lawrence, but with both players scrapping for the ball, they were each shown a yellow card by referee Tim Robinson.

As Derby tried to muster some motivation to peg Forest back, Curtis Davies was pushed up top to add greater aerial presence. However, any balls that came into the Forest half were dealt with in bullish fashion by the impressive McKenna.

In the dying moments and with Derby still pushing to create one last chance, Morrison took a heavy touch and out of frustration, he dangerously tackled Zinckernagel which saw him shown a straight red card.

When Robinson blew the final whistle, Louie Sibley, who had already kicked out at Colback, got involved in a heated exchange with Zinckernagel. As Forest substitute Cafu dragged Sibley away by his neck, both squads squared up on the touchline, which may see further action taken by the EFL.

Forest midfielder James Garner was delighted at full-time and has thoroughly enjoyed his experience of the local derby games, having scored at Derby in last season’s fixture.

“Both teams were pretty poor in the first half, but we came out in the second half firing and got the two goals we needed.

“We work on set pieces in training and they’re really important. To get a goal early was important, and then it was a great goal by Brennan [Johnson].

“It was a bit frantic towards the end, but we managed the game well especially in those last six minutes.

“The fans were amazing. There were over 29,000 here and the atmosphere from minute one was top drawer, I loved it.”

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper, who had his first taste of the East Midlands derby, also thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“I love the home games because of the history and nostalgia around what this club is. We feel responsible to do well.

“The fans really played their part, it was an amazing display while Mull of Kintyre was going on at the start.

“They dragged us home, and the place was rocking after we made it 2-0. The supporters are amazing, everybody played their part today from our club.”

Cooper’s men side now welcome Barnsley to The City Ground in midweek before taking on Cardiff City away from home at the weekend. Derby County are back in action next Sunday as they face Birmingham City at Pride Park.

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