Nottingham Forest 1 (Wood 10) Wolves 1 (Bellegarde 12)
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s thunderbolt effort earned Wolves their first point of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign as the Old Gold drew with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
In an end-to end contest between two sides which have become bitter rivals in recent seasons, Wolves fell behind just after 10 minutes as Chris Wood’s unmarked header from a corner opened the scoring.
However, Bellegarde’s stunning shot from 25 yards got his side back on level terms, and Gary O’Neil’s men were able to see out the game with a series of back to the wall defending in the closing stages, ensuring the fixture would end 1-1 for the fourth time in five meetings.
The head coach made nine changes to his side which overcame Burnley in midweek and gave Rayan Ait-Nouri a chance in a more attacking role as Toti moved across to left-back.
The change almost paid dividends from the first minute as the Algerian found himself played into space on the left wing, before his first shot was blocked by Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels, before Ait-Nouri also found the stopper with his rebounded effort.
Having conceded eight goals in their opening two Premier League matches, O’Neil stuck with his tried and tested formation at the City Ground, but the visitors broke through the defensive line inside the opening 10 minutes as Callum Hudson-Odoi found himself through on goal, but Nelson Semedo – fresh from his three-game suspension to start the season – got back to recover.
But it didn’t take long for Forest to break the deadlock, as a corner sent to the back post found Wood, unmarked, and he had the easiest of tasks to head across Wolves’ debutant goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and into the far corner of the net.
However, Wolves hit back immediately as Bellegarde did well to recover the ball in the middle of the Forest half, before setting himself and launching an unstoppable effort into the top corner of Sels’ goal from 25 yards out.
Chances fell at both ends of the pitch throughout the rest of the half, but neither side were able to add to the goal tally before the break. Ola Aina smashed a good chance high over the Wolves crossbar before Cunha almost matched Bellegarde’s effort but just hit his shot wide of the post.
Johnstone was forced into action by former Wolves man Morgan Gibbs-White, whose free-kick was heading into the top corner, but the keeper palmed it away. Moments later, Anthony Elanga hammered a volley over Johnstone’s crossbar from a good position, in a massive let off for the visitors.
Just before the break, Cunha again found himself baring down on goal, and with Jorgen Strand Larsen in space on the right, the Brazilian decided to go alone but could only slice his shot wide of the goal.
Half-time | Forest 1-1 Wolves
The end-to-end manner of the first half continued after the break as both sides had opportunities to swing the game in their favour, without success.
Moments after Wolves inadvertently hit the post as Elliot Anderson attempted to clear the danger in his own box, only to smash the ball against the woodwork, Forest almost took the lead for the second time in the game when Anderson went through on goal, but Mario Lemina did enough to deflect his shot over the crossbar.
Both teams rang the changes in the second half, which saw the Old Gold hand a debut to deadline day signing Andre, but it was fellow debutant Johnstone who proved his worth with another excellent save to deny Wood’s header after the New Zealander rose highest in the box.
Tommy Doyle came off the bench and had Wolves’ best efforts, seeing a piledriver – which looked to be heading in – deflected over the bar by Murillo. The midfielder then saw an effort blocked which fell to Cunha on the rebound, but the forward couldn’t curl his shot on target.
The game was limited to shots from distance late on, with the defences on top, as Neco Williams narrowly shot over for the hosts, before Forest had the ball in the net through Wood, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
After Cunha had a chance from distance, Wolves were pegged into their box in the closing stages, and the defence had to put their bodies on the line to keep hold of a point, as Craig Dawson twice made crucial blocks to keep out Forest’s attack, to ensure the Old Gold got off the mark for the season.
Full-time | Forest 1-1 Wolves
Forest | Sels, Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Aina, Sangare (Yates 58), Anderson (Jota 90), Elanga (Awoniyi 90), Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi (Sosa 79), Wood.
Unused subs | Miguel, Dominguez, Da Silva Moreira, Moreno, Boly.
Wolves | Johnstone, Semedo (Doherty 75), Mosquera, Dawson, Toti, Lemina, J. Gomes (Doyle 60), Bellegarde (Guedes 75), Cunha, Ait-Nouri (Hwang 60), Strand Larsen (Andre 86).
Unused subs | Bentley, Bueno, Sarabia, R. Gomes.
Referee | Simon Hooper
