Brighton 2-3 Nottingham Forest

Dougie Freedman got off to a winning start as Nottingham Forest manager, as he led Forest to a 2-3 win against Brighton & Hove Albion at the AMEX Stadium. Brighton took the lead in the first half as Lewis Dunk headed them ahead. However, Danny Collins equalized with a header shortly before half-time. Goals from Henri Lansbury and Ben Osborn gave Forest a 3-1 lead in the second half before Kayal pulled one back for the Seagulls late on.

Dougie Freedman made a total of six changes to the team who lost 1-0 at home to Millwall the previous weekend. The most notable changes were the inclusion of Danny Collins and putting Karl Darlow back into the starting-11 ahead of Dorus De Vries who has played very well of late. Gordon Greer had a good chance to put Brighton ahead from a corner, but failed to do so. Forest were looking pretty solid and had appeals for a penalty turned down when Greer tussled with Britt Assombalonga. Holla had the best chance of the game so far for Brighton as his free-kick seemed to hit a combination of the post and bar leaving Brighton incredibly unlucky not to be 1-0 up. However, Brighton did exactly that just moments later as Lewis Dunk headed home. Forest took just two minutes to respond as a free-kick was headed in off the post by Danny Collins to level the scores.

Forest started the second half brightly and Dunk had to be alert to deny Assombalonga a chance to give Forest the lead. Forest did take the lead in the 63rd minute as Ben Osborn laid off a free-kick for Henri Lansbury to smash through a mass of bodies into the far bottom corner much to the travelling fan's delight. Forest then looked to have wrapped up the three points in the 86th minute as Chris Burke went on a good run down the right hand side and squared it for Ben Osborn to smash home and cause jubilant scenes in the away end. However, for Forest it is never that easy and Kayal headed home in the 90th minute to cause a nervy final few minutes for Forest and their travelling support. Then came a huge chance for Brighton to find an equalizer as Kayal's effort was cleared off the line by a combination of Jamaal Lascelles and Jack Hobbs. However, Forest managed to clear their lines and hang on for a moral boosting three points.

Overall, this was a much improved performance from Forest and it was nice to see the players playing with a smile on their faces once again. I don't think it is a coincidence that when Henri Lansbury plays well, so do Forest. I think if Dougie Freedman can get the best out of Lansbury then he will have a much more successful time in charge than if he can't. Freedman already clearly has the players on board and has already recorded one impressive result against a Brighton side who were much improving under Chris Hughton. He now has to build on this by securing a win in his first home match in charge against Wigan, another team with relegation fears in the Championship.