Morgan Gibbs-White produced the perfect response to his England omission by helping Nottingham Forest to their first Premier League win since the opening day of the season.
Gibbs-White was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers, but reminded the German of his talent with a decisive goal in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Leeds.
The midfielder’s second-half header helped end Forest’s nine-game winless streak in the league as they secured three points for the first time under head coach Sean Dyche.
It was far from pretty as they had to come from behind, Ibrahim Sangare cancelling out Lukas Nmecha’s opener for Leeds.
Elliot Anderson’s late penalty sealed a vital triumph for Forest, who have now taken four points from their last two games and look to be heading in the right direction.
They are just two points behind Leeds, who have lost four out of their last five matches.
Heroic Forest fan Stephen Crean was saluted before the game after he was involved in last weekend’s Huntingdon train incident, suffering serious injuries protecting a young girl from the attacker.
And he watched his side make a promising start as Gibbs-White, feeling like he had something to prove, had a shot turned around the post by Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri.
Perri was in the thick of the action and soon after produced a miraculous save as he acrobatically clawed away Igor Jesus’ shot that took a wicked deflection off Joe Rodon.
That was a big moment as Leeds went down the other end and took the lead in the 13th minute.
Forest right-back Nicolo Savona was hesitant with a clearance, allowing Brenden Aaronson to slide in Nmecha. He still had work to do, but he fired a brilliant low show into the far corner.
The home response
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