Nottingham Forest vs Derby County: Nelson Oliveira’s early winner brings sweet relief for Dougie Freedman

Nottingham Forest 1 Derby County 0

Nottingham Forest's Nelson Oliveira celebrates scoring the winner (Reuters)

Form regularly counts for little on nights such as this and so it was that Nottingham Forest, without a win in eight matches, ended Derby’s 10-match unbeaten run, easing the pressure on manager Dougie Freedman and denying Paul Clement’s side at least a temporary taste of how it feels to be top of the Championship.

One goal settled it, coming as early as the fifth minute when Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveira scored with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area. Thereafter Derby dominated possession to the extent that the home side had the ball for barely a third of the game.

Yet Dorus de Vries was rarely tested as Forest protected their advantage with the most resolute of defensive displays to thwart their East Midlands rivals.

The feeling was that it was a critical occasion for Freedman, just as it was for his predecessor, Stuart Pearce, when Forest went to Derby on a run of eight matches without a win and only two victories in 18 in the Championship.

In the event, a last-gasp winner at the iPro Stadium bought Pearce a stay of execution, if only a brief one. Freedman claims expectations of what he might achieve, given that he is shackled by a transfer embargo, are not the same as those sitting on Pearce’s shoulders. Nonetheless, Freedman’s record at the City Ground does not make good reading. He made a flying start after taking charge in February, winning six of his first eight Championship matches, yet went into last night’s match having seen victory in only three of 23 fixtures since.

Moreover, he admitted only in the last week that he does not always see eye-to-eye with the Forest chairman, Fawaz al Hasawi, whose patience has been notoriously thin since his family took the club into Kuwaiti control in 2012. Freedman is Forest’s fifth permanent manager in that period.

It has given added credibility to speculation suggesting Nigel Clough has been sounded out about following his father, Brian, in becoming Forest manager having previously been in charge at Derby.

In the circumstances, then, Freedman could hardly have wished for a better start, a goal to the good after four minutes and 15 seconds as Oliveira, having seen a forceful right-foot shot blocked, picked up the rebound to send a left-foot follow-up flying out of Scott Carson’s reach, the shot taking a deflection off defender Richard Keogh.

Thereafter, Derby tended to control the play, yet Forest were lively on the counter-attack and it took a superb save by Carson, airborne and at full stretch to push a Jamie Ward effort wide of his right-hand post, to deny the home side a second after 12 minutes.

Derby went close more than once, a Jeff Hendrick shot clipping the bar and Johnny Russell drawing a good save from De Vries, but Henri Lansbury, back in the Forest midfield after a three-match ban, underlined the home side’s potency on the break with a shot that swerved a whisker wide with Carson beaten.

The balance of first-half possession was 70-30 in favour of Derby and the pattern continued after the break. Yet Forest, for whom Matt Mills and Jack Hobbs were outstanding centre-backs, continued to restrict their opponents largely to long-range shots.

The home side ventured forward infrequently, bringing on Liam Trotter for Jonathan Williams as an extra defensive pillar, yet almost sneaked a second goal when Stephen Warnock just managed to whip away a Daniel Pinillos cross from the feet of Ryan Mendes with the goal at his mercy.

Nottingham Forest (4-4-1-1): De Vries; Lichaj, Mills, Hobbs, Pinillos; Ward (Osborn, 60), Lansbury, Vaughan, Mendes; Williams (Trotter, 70); Oliveira (Blackstock, 89). Substitutes not used: Evtimov (gk), Wilson, C Burke, Walker

Derby County (4-1-2-3): Carson; Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Warnock; Thorne; Johnson, Hendrick (Ince, 65); Weimann (Bent, 80), Martin, Russell (Butterfield, 73). Substitutes not used: Grant (gk), Bryson, Baird, Pearce.

Referee: S Hooper (Wiltshire).