Leeds United vs Nottingham Forest. Sky Bet Championship.
Elland RoadAttendance24,079.
Saturday 6 February 2016 17:31, UK
Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten run in the Sky Bet Championship to 13 games with a 1-0 win at Leeds on Saturday afternoon.
Nelson Oliveira's goal on the hour mark deservedly stretched Forest's unbeaten run in the league against a Leeds side who were well below their best, as their sequence of six unbeaten home matches came to an end.
Souleymane Doukara - a scorer in four of his previous six games - almost added to his tally with just three minutes gone, heading narrowly wide as he met a right wing cross from Stuart Dallas 12 yards out.
Yet such moments were all too rare from Leeds, who were second best for most of the proceedings.
Supporters of the two clubs eager to recapture past glories rolled back the years by chanting the names of legendary managers Don Revie and Brian Clough. And the crowd held its breath as Gary Gardner rattled the Leeds bar in the 20th minute.
Gardner was fouled 25 yards out and when Leeds could only clear Jamie Ward's free-kick to Gardner, the loanee from Aston Villa unleashed a power-packed shot which struck the bar, with keeper Marco Silvestri diving full length to his left.
Forest went close again six minutes later when Ben Osborn's long-range drive deflected off Giuseppe Bellusci to Robert Tesche who volleyed high and wide from eight yards.
Dougie Freedman's men had created the better chances and defender Eric Lichaj, whose loan spell from Villa to Leeds was cut short by a knee injury in 2011, broke free down the right, only to fire wide of the near post.
Leeds needed to be much more creative in the second half after failing to test Forest keeper Dorus De Vries in the opening 45 minutes, but it took a defender to test De Vries seriously for the first time.
With the second half a mere two minutes old, Scott Wootton tried his luck with a 20-yard shot which De Vries saved low down.
Winger Dallas then blazed wide when well placed but Silvestri was soon back in action at the other end, getting his body behind a speculative effort from the lively Ward.
Forest were finally rewarded when Lichaj sent over a measured cross from the right and Oliveira's close-in shot grazed the far post on its way into the net.
Leeds withdrew Dallas, Toumani Diagouraga and Wootton, replacing them with Mustapha Carayol, Lee Irwin and Tom Adeyemi, while Forest sent on Oliver Burke in place of Ward and Dexter Blackstock for Oliveira, but there was little change in the pattern of play, with Forest continuing to be the more impressive unit.