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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS