Nottingham Forest 0 Coventry City 1

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The LAST Word

Wow, did we need that. City's last PL victory was 16 April 2001 when The Mighty John Hartson scored the winner against Sunderland. That was our 99th in the PL, if you had told me we'd be waiting 25 years for the 100th I'd have been pretty depressed!

With City's next match not until Monday 12th October vs Newcastle at the CBS, it was going to be a horrible 3 weeks if we were bottom of the table with 0 points and 0 goals. Thanks to JDS's goal, Bobby Thomas' goal line clearance and VAR (who'd have thought it) we go into the break with 3 points on the board and a spring in our step.

There was some eye raising when the team was announced with some uncertainty as to whether we would be 4 at the back or 3. In the end it was 3 with Yirenkyi at right wing back as the rumours of MVE having a hamstring strain were confirmed by SFL.

The first half saw Forest have most of the possession without creating many clear cut chances. City held their own though, the back 3 were cohesive whilst the midfield were busy and full of running. Yirenkyi grew into his new position whilst his Ghanaian team mate BTA was a live wire, winning fouls and relieving pressure.

Half time saw EMC replaced by Tchouna, not sure whether EMC had an injury or it was tactical, he didn't quite seem himself though. Then the big moment and the one we had all been waiting for came on 55 minutes.

theanalyst.com

Rushy played some diagonal ball, JDS had made a strong run and pushed his opposite wing back Daniel Munoz into his own half. He took one touch with his right foot that saw him through 1 on 1. Then with the coolest of finishes he gave the keeper the eyes and slotted it inside him with his left foot. 3 touches and its in the back of the net. Cue mass pandamonium in the away end as a 25 year wait for some and a new experience for others finally came to pass. Limbs everywhere. The question now was could City keep a clean sheet now they had took their chance.

The answer was yes but not without a couple of scares. The first came from Igor Jesus being put through and clipping the ball over Rushworth. Bobby Thomas read the situation and spectacularly cleared the ball off the line with an overhead kick. Thomas has really grown into the PL and looks every bit a top flight defender.

Then with a couple of minutes to go, VAR came to our rescue for once. Yirenkyi cleared up the ball on the edge of the box and he stumbled before going over, leaving Igor Jesus to slot past Rushworth. City players looked at the ref and the goal was reviewed by VAR who sent the ref to the monitor. After a few watches he determined that Igor Jesus had caught Yirenkyi on the boot and the goal was disallowed. For my money I'd have expected that disallowed at the other end, the foul caused Yirenkyi to stumble, maybe then collide with Mfuni and go over. Either way, we were due a bit of luck. City survived 6 minutes of injury time and a last ditch corner to finally get off the mark with 3 points.

Don't things look different this morning to how they looked 24 hours ago? I said in the programme that City need to take their chances and JDS did just that. We also said previously that City have to stop conceding and they did that too. City battled, they ran and ran and their were stand out performances all over the pitch. The back 3 of Pinnock, Thomas and Mfuni were imperious, Liam Delap barely got a look in. You can start to see why Mfuni is so highly thought of, for a 19 year old he is so composed and reads the game. Yirenkyi did well at right wing back, full of energy but needs to stop giving away silly fouls. Rudoni had possibly his best game of the season but LAST's top 3 were BTA, Rushworth and Dasilva. Dasilva has been our best player this season, reliable, defending well and getting forward. He thoroughly deserved his first goal since April 2022 and what a finish. BTA's selection raised some eyebrows but he paid SFL's confidence in him with a performance that saw him win fouls, relieve pressure and was buzzing everywhere. Finally a word on Rushworth who has been under some scrutiny. He was faultless, his handling was perfect and what an assist for Dasilva.

This result was exactly what City needed and was a relief for everyone, players, coaching staff, King Doug the First and supporters. City now have 3 weeks off and a run of 3 games - Newcastle, Spurs and Fulham. We need to kick on and take points from those, which suddenly looks very possible.

And isn't it nice to SFL with a smile on his face again.

Highlights:

Official Highlights

Reaction:

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SFL, Rushy and JDS Official reaction