Coventry City won their first points of the Premier League (PL) season by beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground, ending a six-game losing streak at the stadium in the process.

2026/2027 Premier League

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Match Report

The hosts dominated early proceedings and recorded the most first-half shots of any team in a PL match this season (14). James McAtee had the first inside the opening minute, but his effort from distance went straight down Carl Rushworth’s throat. Coventry had chances too, though, as they desperately searched for their first PL goal in a quarter of a century, with Jack Rudoni striking over from the edge of the box before Matz Sels held onto Brandon Thomas-Asante’s shot.

At the other end, Dan Ndoye and Neco Williams also tried their luck from range, with Rushworth stopping the latter’s strike. Having opened his Forest account last weekend, Liam Delap then came closest to breaking the deadlock before HT, but he curled just wide of the near post as it stayed goalless heading into the second half.

However, just 10 minutes after the restart, it was Coventry who found the breakthrough. The assist remarkably came from goalkeeper Rushworth, when he pinged a long pass to Jay Dasilva out wide, and the latter worked his way into the box before slotting past Sels for the Sky Blues’ landmark goal. The Tricky Trees had won just one of their 13 prior home league games stretching back to last season (D8, L4), and it looked like those troubles would continue, as they offered little in response to going behind.

That said, substitute Igor Jesus offered some encouragement after he was fed through by talisman Morgan Gibbs-White, but the Brazilian’s delicate chip over Rushworth was acrobatically cleared off the line by Bobby Thomas. Forest continued to probe into the latter stages, and Jesus thought he was the saviour when he tapped home from close range, but the goal was disallowed as he was adjudged to have fouled Caleb Yirenkyi in the build-up.

Frank Lampard’s side subsequently managed to hold on for a confidence-boosting win – a first since April 2001, and just their second in six away league matches stretching back to the Championship (D2, L2). After previously going three games unbeaten (W1, D2), Forest will now have to dwell on a bad home defeat in the international break, with Oliver Glasner now five personal PL outings without victory against newly-promoted sides.

Match Events

55' GOAL! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Coventry City (Jay Dasilva)

Line-ups

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels, Schlager, Gibbs-White, Daniel Muñoz, Dan Ndoye, Neco Williams, Liam Delap, McAtee, Ousmane Diomande, Jair Cunha, Murillo

Subs: Wood, Aina, John Victor, Sangare, Hudson-Odoi, Ryan Yates, Dominguez, Luca Netz, Igor Jesus

Coventry City XI: Matt Grimes, Jay Dasilva, Ethan Pinnock, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Frank Onyeka, Jack Rudoni, Bobby Thomas, Carl Rushworth, Ephron Mason-Clark, Stephen Mfuni, Caleb Yirenkyi

Subs: Daniel Bentley, Joel Latibeaudiere, Gustavo Hamer, Victor Torp, Yann Gboho, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Ellis Simms, Loum Tchaouna, Sidiki Chérif