Fulham 0-1 Nottingham Forest

Fulham were beaten 1-0 at home by Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening.

With AFC Bournemouth drawing in Swansea, a win for the Whites would have secured the Championship title, but it wasn’t to be against an organised and sly Forest outfit.

Philip Zinckernagel took advantage of a mistake at the back to put his side in front after quarter of an hour, and that moment proved the difference.

Fulham pushed for an equaliser throughout the remainder of the contest, but were left frustrated – for a variety of reasons.

Marco Silva switched things up from the draw in Bournemouth, with Neco Williams, Jean Michaël Seri and Bobby De Cordova-Reid replacing Kenny Tete, Tom Cairney and Neeskens Kebano, who all dropped to the bench.

After a Jack Colback stinger was saved by Marek Rodák, Fulham demonstrated their attacking intentions with three sighters inside the opening seven minutes – half chances that were not quite converted by Harry Wilson, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrović.

But it was the visitors – with promotion aspirations of their own – who took the lead through a mix-up at the back, when Zinckernagel managed to hook a touch onto a loose ball before Ream or Rodák could claim it. It would have been prevented, though, had a push on Williams been spotted in the build-up.

Fulham responded immediately with a sweeping move that ended with Harrison Reed squaring to Fabio Carvalho, whose first-time strike was caught by Brice Samba, before Mitrović saw a header from a corner deflect just over.

We kept the pressure up, but a miscued volley from Carvalho and a well-worked Mitrović free-kick both went over the bar, as the first half ended with the Whites behind.

Fulham started the second half intent on a quick equaliser. De Cordova-Reid couldn’t find the finish to match his build-up play with the first chance, before Samba got fortunate as his fingertips onto Williams’ cross meant Mitrović was denied a simple header.

If Rodák was partially at fault for the opener, he certainly made amends on 52 minutes. A Forest break saw Brennan Johnson put the ball on a plate for Sam Surridge, but Rodák made himself huge to deny the striker what should have been a routine finish.

It was a high tempo game and Carvalho almost restored parity in emphatic fashion with a 20 yarder that was bending inside the far post. A scrambling Samba managed to tip it behind.

With Fulham pushing, Forest were getting the occasional chance on the break, with two opportunities passing Johnson by, as he saw shots blocked by Tosin and saved by Rodák.

In stoppage time, Tosin got a good connection on a Wilson free-kick but could not keep his volley down.

A wonderful opening presented itself after that with white shirts flooding forward, but the referee halted the play due to an apparent head injury suffered by Ryan Yates, who made a remarkably quick recovery afterwards.

The final effort of the game came from Seri but a deflection took the pace of his strike, meaning Samba was able to make the save and win the game for Forest.