West Bromwich Albion came from behind to win 2-1 at the City Ground in Slaven Bilic’s first game in charge.
Nottingham Forest took the game to the Baggies from the start and took the lead through Matty Cash’s 20-yard strike on seven minutes.
Two errors from Ari Muric in the first half gifted West Brom the lead which saw out comfortable after.
Here are EFL Matters’ player ratings from Nottingham Forest 1-2 West Brom:
Nottingham Forest
Ari Muric 2 – Spilled West Brom’s equaliser into his own net and then pulled his hand away to prevent Matt Phillips’ cross giving the West Midlands club the lead.
Matty Cash 6 – Bombed forward from right-back and beat Sam Johnstone at his near post to open the scoring. Kyle Edwards gave Matty Cash a lot of problems defensively though as the left winger turned Cash inside-out in equalising for the visitors.
Joe Worrall 8 – Neither centre-back was at fault for Wes Brom’s two goals. Kenneth Zohore didn’t have a sight at goal for the visitors.
Michael Dawson 8 – Michael Dawson and Joe Worrall had few tackles and interceptions to make as West Brom’s threats were all from out wide.
Jack Robinson 6 – A busy first half up against Matt Phillips, Jack Robinson saw a lot of the ball going forard from left-back himself.
Ben Watson 6 – Saw a lot of the ball and played a simple passing game in front of the back four.
Albert Adomah 7 – Was Nottingham Forest’s most influential player in attack. Switched between the two wings and created the odd half chance for his team.
Tiago Silva 5 – Escaped a yellow card after a couple of bad fouls. Replaced on the hour having not seen much of the ball as West Brom controlled the game in the second half.
Alfa Semedo 6 – Looked to take the game to West Brom in the final 20 minutes but Alfa Semedo couldn’t do it all on his own. Looked promising in patches but had the ball passed around him when West Brom took control of the first half and opening 20 minutes of the second.
Joe Lolley 5 – Looked like he was going to have an impact in the game early on when down the right wing but overall Joe Lolley failed to do much down either wing and was replaced for the final 20 minutes.
Lewis Grabban 4 – Couldn’t get into the game as the sole striker.
Substitutes
Rafa Mir (30 mins) 5 – Nottingham Forest started to see more of the ball in the final half hour after Rafa Mir’s introduction. The Spaniard didn’t have much influenece on the game himself though.
Sammy Ameobi (20 mins) N/A – Couldn’t get into the game after coming on for the final 20 minutes.
Brennan Johnson (3 mins) N/A – David Johnson’s son was handed his debut in the final three minutes today.
West Bromwich Albion
Sam Johnstone 6 – May feel he could have done better with Matty Cash’s opener. Barely featured afterwards.
Nathan Ferguson 8 – 18-year-old right-back handed his professional debut after a promising pre-season. Looked confident up against both Joe Lolley and Albert Adomah.
Kyle Bartley 8 – West Brom protected Sam Johnstone very well after falling behind early on. The Nottingham Forest attack failed to get the ball into the feet of Lewis Grabban as he was marked out of the game. Made an important block in the final five minutes to deny the hosts an equaliser.
Semi Ajayi 9 – Impressive debut at centre-back as Semi Ajayi won a few aerial battles and prevented Lewis Grabban from barely touching the ball let-alone having a strike on goal.
Kieran Gibbs 7 – Cut out the odd overhit cross from Albert Adomah. Was outnumbered at left-back early on but got support as the game went on. Limped off in the final 20 minutes.
Jake Livermore 7 – Was a lot more comfortable in front of the back four than expected as Forest had little in the way of creativity through the middle of the park. Finished the game with what appeared to be an injury for the final 10 minutes.
Matt Phillips 6 – Gave West Brom the lead against the run of play with a mishit cross from deep that Ari Muric left to go into the back of the net. Fired a few efforts off target but otherwise not much else of note from Matt Phillips.
Romaine Sawyers 8 – Excellent in possession, bringing the ball forward starting attacks for West Brom.
Filip Krovinovic 7 – Tidy in possession on his debut in England without creating anything.
Kyle Edwards 8 – The youngster was tricky down the left wing, capable of using both feet. Aided by a goalkeeper howler for his equaliser.
Kenneth Zohore 5 – Didn’t get any supply and was replaced on the hour.
Substitutes
Oliver Burke (28 mins) N/A – Replaced Zohore as the striker but barely got a touch of the ball.
Conor Towsend (19 mins) N/A – Didn’t have much work to do defensively after replacing the injured Kieran Gibbs at left-back.
Rekeem Harper (8 mins) N/A – Replaced the injured Kyle Edwards for the final few minutes.
