With swirling speculation about the future of manager Aitor Karanka at Nottingham Forest after a poor end to 2018, we were looking to get back to winning ways in today’s clash with Leeds United.
Welcoming the side in the Championship top spot to the City Ground, Forest took a fifth minute lead through Jack Colback to settle any nerves we may have had given recent form and our chances for all three points improved just ahead of the hour mark as Kalvin Phillips saw red and the visitors were reduced to ten men.
Leeds hit back twice in the second half, but Forest responded strongly and Colback completed his brace before we added further goals through Daryl Murphy and Ben Osborn to secure a 4-2 victory.
If the players wanted to send a message they were behind Karanka that was exactly how to do it.
Speaking to the BBC following the encounter, Karanka said of the game.
“The comeback was for the fans. Their support was amazing. In the moments when Leeds came back, even when they scored the second one, the crowd were amazing – they supported the players. They supported me as well, which is nothing new. The team deserved to win. It was unfair that we had been in the kind of run we had been, without a win. In the five games where we had not won, we had played well. This can be a turning point for the confidence of the players. The team spirit they showed was amazing.”
💬 "It was really good because the crowd has enjoyed it, the players have done their best so it was the perfect game."@Karanka was delighted as his #NFFC side put in a brilliant display to defeat league leaders Leeds at The City Ground.https://t.co/P0NpHbJdof
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) January 1, 2019
