Chris Wood’s brace and Dan Ndoye’s header saw Nottingham Forest beat Brentford 3-1 at the City Ground.
Wood put Forest ahead with a sixth-minute strike from his nodded-down touch of a corner kick, before he completed victory with a composed finish in the third minute of first-half injury-time.
Ndoye headed in Forest’s second goal from Morgan Gibbs-White’s 42nd-minute cross to score on his debut for Forest.
Igor Thiago on his ninth appearance for Brentford after an injury-hit maiden season netted their consolatory goal in the 78th minute, with a penalty struck down the middle after Ibrahim Sangare handballed a deflective touch from Sepp van den Berg.
Forest sit fifth in the table whilst Brentford sat 17th and above the relegation zone on goal difference.
Having endured a winless pre-season with just one goal in seven friendlies after they exceeded expectations to finish seventh last season, Forest enjoyed a fast start which saw them earn a corner from Caoimhin Keller’s spillage of Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cutback pass.
Brentford on the other hand suffered upheaval in the off-season as Thomas Frank left the club for Tottenham, whilst key players, Mark Flekken, Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard moved on as set-piece coach, Keith Andrews got promoted to the hotseat.
Andrews’ Bees however failed to heed his expertise barely a minute later as Wood was able to nod down the corner delivery and flick his shot into the left corner, which sent the home crowd into raptures as Brentford bemused their poor marking – having not conceded a set-piece goal last season until matchweek 11.
Brentford proceeded to dominate possession but Forest carved out the better chances as Elliott Anderson saw two shots denied.
Wood almost netted his second goal in the 21st minute as he nearly latched onto Ndoye’s cross, yet the delivery was gathered by Kelleher just before the New Zealand international made his touch on the ball.
Brentford almost punished that chance with six minutes of the opening half left as Rico Henry broke forward up the left and found Thiago, yet the Brazilian’s wait for a first Premier League goal continued after his shot was blocked.
Forest however refused to lose their cool as Gibbs-White broke forward two minutes later with a slick cross which found Ndoye unmarked to nod in their second goal on his debut following his move from Bologna, whilst Gibbs-White justified his new contract after a failed bid from Tottenham.
Any hopes of a comeback for Brentford were snuffed out in the third minute of first-half injury-time as Van den Berg gave the ball away, which allowed Anderson to play Wood through round Kelleher to net Forest’s third goal.
Andrews subsequently brought on Kevin Schade as a half-time substitute in a move which sparked life into Brentford’s end product, as Keane Lewis-Potter looped a 54th-minute header over from Kelleher’s clearance of Mathias Jensen’s throw-in.
Jensen saw a shot blocked five minutes later from Schade’s cutback pass as the Bees continued to get on top.
Forest however almost wrapped up victory from Hudson-Odoi’s 64th-minute cross, which fell for Gibbs-White but the 25-year-old fired wide of the top-right corner with his back acutely away from goal.
Brentford however forced a 76th handball from Forest’s Sangare after Van den Berg’s deflective touch struck his right arm, which allowed Thiago to score his first top-flight goal two minutes later with a penalty down the middle.
Forest eventually saw the remainder of the match out for a first Premier League win over the Bees at the City Ground, having taken two draws and a defeat in their three previous modern top-flight meetings at home against the West-London club.
‘pretty much done at half time’
Andrews post-match wasn’t impressed with Brentford’s first half as he criticised his players for failing at basic level in an interview with Sky Sports.
“The game was pretty much done at half time and I didn’t like a lot of what I saw in the first half. You have to do the basics at this level to give yourself the chance of winning games. it was the game we knew would be. Ball losses in critical areas cost us. There was a naivety I felt in some cases.
“There’s an element of some players playing catch up with not having a fluid pre-season. Damsgaard came out of the team with his wife giving birth. That was a little knock. I won’t shy away from the fact it wasn’t good enough in the first half. It doesn’t define us and it won’t define us.”
Andrews however praised his players for their second-half response but felt that they need to build on the lessons from the defeat if want to avoid a relegation battle.
“I’m big into players taking responsibility. We didn’t do the basics of the game. We showed character and resilience in the second half.
“I think there are key learnings. I don’t think this first half will define us. I do have genuine belief but we have to take responsibility for a first half that wasn’t good enough.”
What’s Next?
Forest head to the UK capital for their first away trip of the season at Crystal Palace on Sunday 24 August at 2pm BST.
Brentford meanwhile will too be in action in London next weekend as the Bees host Aston Villa at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday 23 August, in a 3pm kick-off.
Teams
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams, Ibrahim Sangare, Elliott Anderson, Dan Ndoye (Silva 79′), Morgan Gibbs-White (Yates 84′), Callum Hudson-Odoi, Chris Wood (Jesus 79′)
Substitutes: Taiwo Awoniyi, Jota Silva, Angus Gunn, Zach Abbott, Igor Jesus, Jair Cunha, Morato, Ryan Yates, Willy Boly
Brentford: Caoimhin Kelleher, Michael Kayode, Nathan Collins, Sepp van den Berg, Rico Henry (Hickey 88′), Mathias Jensen (Henderson 69′), Yehor Yarmoliuk, Keane Lewis-Potter (Onyeka 69′), Antoni Milambo (46′), Fabio Carvalho, Igor Thiago
Substitutes: Hakon Valdimarsson, Aaron Hickey, Jordan Henderson, Kevin Schade, Frank Onyeka, Kristoffer Ajer, Myles Peart-Harris, Mads Roerslev, Benjamin Arthur
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