Nottingham Forest see off Huddersfield to seal glorious Premier League return

Even Jürgen Klopp made his case for Steve Cooper deserving the manager of the season award and it is impossible to argue otherwise after Nottingham Forest ended their 23-year exile from the top flight to seal promotion to the Premier League. When Cooper took over in September, Forest were bottom but after an extraordinary run they are back in the big time.

An own goal by Levi Colwill proved the difference but those of a Huddersfield persuasion will point towards two peculiar refereeing decisions late in the second half as moments that went against them. By the end Forest fans, many with hands on heads taking it all in, swayed through six minutes of stoppage time, nerves frayed. Up in the directors’ box, Evangelos Marinakis, superstitious at the best of times, stood hands on hips.

Perhaps it was inevitable that VAR, introduced for the playoffs this season, would play its part in a game of such magnitude after not being called into action in either the League One or League Two equivalent. Things could have been very different had the VAR, Paul Tierney, decided that Jack Colback fouled Harry Toffolo inside the box with 73 minutes gone. Colback appeared to trip Toffolo as he jinked inside the box but Jon Moss, refereeing his final game before moving to an upstairs role, booked the Huddersfield wing-back for simulation before the flashpoint was reviewed at Stockley Park.

If Forest were lucky then, they were extremely fortunate that the VAR did not take a closer look at the substitute Max Lowe bundling Lewis O’Brien over inside the box without making any contact with the ball.

This game was only a quarter of an hour old when Forest supporters, sifting their way through the back-catalogue of chants, landed on “if Yatesy scores,