Match report: Nottingham Forest 2 Man Utd 1 | 30 December 2023

SECOND HALF –  FRUSTRATION AT FOREST

Ten Hag introduced Scott McTominay, in place of Mainoo, but the pattern of the game remained largely the same. A second change saw Amad on for Antony, making his first appearance for the club since facing Young Boys, in the Europa League, back in December 2021.

Our first shot in anger after the break was a cracking one, by Diogo Dalot, but the defender was out of luck. Meeting a pass by fellow full-back Wan-Bissaka, the Portugal international smacked a post from distance, with a drive that beat Turner in the Forest goal.

However, we were unable to build on that moment, as things became fractious with a booking for Gibbs-White, following rash challenges on McTominay and Jonny Evans actually firing the hosts up. The opening goal then arrived on 64 minutes and it was all far too easy from a United perspective. Elanga fed Gonzalo Montiel who, in turn, picked out Dominguez in space inside the box, to place his finish past an unsighted Onana with his right foot.

Garnacho connected with a Bruno Fernandes corner but the volley went into the ground and landed on the top of the net but an equaliser did arrive, with 12 minutes left. Turner’s errant pass out was won by Garnacho, on the stretch, and he kept his cool to progress and accurately feed Rashford, whose instant first-time finish bent past Neco Williams and beyond the wrongfooted Turner.

Everything hinged on one dramatic minute as Garnacho set up a shot by Eriksen, but Turner dived to push it away. Although Amad was onto the rebound, Fernandes tried to dummy the intended pass and, instead, Forest broke in numbers. Capitalising on poor marking, Elanga passed to a grateful Gibbs-White, who rifled past Onana to make it 2-1.

An Eriksen corner led to Fernandes volleying goalwards but a deflection ended up aiding Turner, who stuck up a hand to divert it over the top. The same move saw the skipper’s shot, soon afterwards, spark handball shouts inside the area but there was nothing doing. Amad controlled a drilled pass by fellow substitute Sergio Reguilon to force another stop out of Turner, and Eriksen stubbed an Amad pass wide at the death, but time ran out on the Reds, who end 2023 in disappointing fashion.