Nottingham Forest 0 ​

Leeds United        1 (Stach 88)

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22nd August 2026. English Premier League.

30,739.

 

An excellent way to start the season! An away win and a clean sheet.

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This was one of the most even games I can remember in a long time, neither side able to create many clear-cut chances and the opportunities that did arise were shared fairly equally between them. Neither keeper had a lot to do, but each needed to make one superb save to keep the game goalless at the time. As early as the 17th minute, we needed all of the agility of James Trafford as he dived full length to keep out a header from Igor Jesus from an Aina long throw and then in the second half Sels had to do almost the same to thwart Tarik M as he powered a header at goal from a clever Noah Okafor cross.

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Perhaps the one thing that was concerning, particularly in the first half, was the number of times Forest men got their heads to cross balls, corners and those Aina long throws. I’m sure all Leeds fans, like me, think that our three centre backs will be among the best in the division this season, so it was surprising we were beaten in the air so often, although we did get better at this part of our game in the second half.

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After the early Trafford save, Leeds had a good spell of dominance in the game and were unlucky not to break the deadlock in the 25th minute when Harry Wilson got behind the Forest defence to prod home a Jayden Bogle low cross; Harry had just strayed offside when he probably didn’t need to. The only other close shave in the first half came from another Forest header, this time from a corner, that struck the foot of the post and caused a mild degree of panic before we cleared the danger.

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In the second half, the two key moments were Sels' fine save and the Leeds goal in the 88th minute. Anton Stach was blocked unceremoniously with a knee to the stomach just on the left corner of the Forest box and initially looked unlikely to take the resulting free kick. However, he shook himself down and then fired one of his ‘specials’ towards the near post. Sels got a big hand to the ball but could only push it into the corner of the net, and that sent the packed Leeds end wild with delight!

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Although the result is obviously perfect and they say we’ve not won a top-flight game at The City Ground since the days of Don Revie, the overall performance wasn’t as punchy as I expected, given how we have progressed through pre-season. As noted, those early Forest headers are something we need to work on, and on another day, Chris Wood might have punished us when he got free through the middle in the second half.

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Going forward, the performance was just a little downbeat, I thought. Some of that has to be down to the defensive work of Forest, of course, but my guess is Farke will want to see more creativity from the midfield boys and more flair down the flanks from Jayden and James, and Gabi when he returns.

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But that is only an observation and it in no way diminishes the result; we only won two away games all last season, of course! We don’t know how good or bad Forest are either, but you’d guess under Oliver Glasner they’ll be stronger than they were last season. It is also difficult to pick out a Leeds player of the match, as they all played their part, and although no one really stood head and shoulders above the rest, neither did anyone disappoint.

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So, we are up and running, folks, and, just like last season, we open with a 1-0 win. Next up in the Prem it’s Brentford, who have humbled Spurs today, so that will be another stern test. First, though, it will be fascinating to see what teams Forest and Leeds field on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup. I can’t wait!

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