Nottingham Forest on Sunday beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium in London to return to the English Premier League after a 23-year absence.
The decisive goal came in the 43rd minute when Huddersfield defender Levi Colwill deflected a James Garner shot into his own net.
Former European champions Forest were relegated from the top flight in 1998-1999 and they join AFC Bournemouth and Fulham, who won automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Photo: Reuters
Steve Cooper’s side were deserved winners having dominated the first half and then held on to their lead without Huddersfield truly threatening their goal.
“I’m just so proud of the players, staff, fans,” Forest defender Joe Worrall said. “We’ve been fantastic all season — we were really unlucky to not go up automatically. We’ve played with honesty and we play football the right way.”
The only scare came when Town’s Harry Toffolo went down in the penalty area under a challenge from Jack Colback, but referee Jon Moss booked the Huddersfield wingback for simulation.
Photo: Reuters
Forest, who had beaten Sheffield United to reach the playoff final, were English champions in 1977-1978 under Brian Clough and went on to win the European Cup in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980.
The East Midlands side had made an awful start to the season, sacking manager Chris Hughton when they were bottom of the league after taking just one point from their opening seven games.
Former Swansea City manager Cooper took charge and transformed the campaign, leading Forest to a fourth-placed finish, two points behind third-placed Huddersfield.
Forest have struggled to find their way out of the Championship and Cooper was the 14th manager they have appointed in 10 years, since Billy Davies departed in the summer of 2011.
“Everybody connected with the football club deserves today and we are really looking forward now to a positive future,” Cooper said. “I love being at this football club, it has changed my life professionally.”
Huddersfield had been relegated from the Premier League in 2018-2019 after two seasons in the top division and had finished 18th and 20th in the past two campaigns.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS