Nottingham Forest 1-0 Derby: Hosts end winless streak with victory over Rams

Nottingham Forest beat East Midlands rivals Derby 1-0 thanks to an early strike from Nelson Oliviera at the City Ground on Friday.

Dougie Freedman's side made a dream start as Oliviera superbly found the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the box in the fifth minute.

Derby enjoyed the majority of the possession, but it was Forest who created the more clear-cut chances, forcing Scott Carson into plenty of saves, and they even saw a Matt Mills header disallowed in the first half following a foul from Jack Hobbs on Bradley Johnson.

The victory means Forest break their duck of eight games without a win to climb up to 15th place in the table as Paul Clement suffers defeat in this fixture at the first time of asking.

But a keenly-fought contest was marred after the final whistle when a pitch invader jostled Derby's Bradley Johnson, Forest later confirming they would investigate the incident.

Derby were guilty of over-committing early on and were quickly punished as and Forest took an early lead. Oliviera's strike went through an open set of legs, leaving Scott Carson unsighted. The on-loan Benfica forward was gifted far too much space in a dangerous area on the edge of the box.

Forest's intensity and desire was epitomised by Jamie Ward's energetic display, and the former Derby man could have given his side a two-goal cushion just 16 minutes. Carson was forced to make a smart save to his left to keep the deficit to just the one goal.

Hendrick nearly got the visitors back into match in the 23rd minute with a shot from 20 yards out shading the top of the bar.

Forest were unfortunate to have a goal notched off before the break when Mills headed into the bottom right hand corner of the net on 29 minutes, but the referee had blown up for a foul from Hobbs on Rams midfielder Johnson.

The second half saw a similar pattern emerge as Derby continued to press but remained toothless in attack, while Carson was called into action in the 52nd minute to deny Ryan Mendes

Derby were restricted to just one shot on target in the second half, a tame header from substitute Darren Bent which was never troubling Dorus De Vries with eight minutes remaining.

The last victory over derby for Forest saw Stuart Pearce have a stay of execution, with a 2-1 win only temporarily alleviating the pressure on himself but, on the evidence of this display, Freedman has seemingly bought himself more time than the former England defender was given.

Freedman looked mightily relieved at the final whistle, but in truth his side fully deserved the win as they brushed aside promotion hopefuls and an in-form Derby.

Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman

"In difficult times in the past, they've always wanted to change their manager. I think the chairman has been great this week with me.

"We talk about football most days - we disagree, we agree, so his support has been fantastic. It was never really for me but for the football club, that they can continued working with the plan that we had."

Derby boss Paul Clement

"What I am most disappointed about is our offensive display that was laboured, it was too complex, mainly because of individuals really, taking too many touches on the ball, running with the ball, getting dispossessed, setting them
off on the counter.

"I am very disappointed with the result against our big rivals, disappointed that our fans are going to go home with the defeat, but most disappointed with the way we attacked."