Burnley players dominate PFA Championship team of the year alongside Luton Town,…
The forward came off the bench to net his first Clarets goal in the last minute of normal time to hand Vincent Kompany’s men their first victory of the season.
While Kompany will be delighted with the grit and determination his side showed, the win came at a cost with not one, not two, but THREE injury blows.
Vitinho and Aaron Ramsey were both able to walk off but the main concern will surround defender Hjalmar Ekdal, who held his head in his hands as he was stretchered off the pitch.
With this cup tie being the third Burnley game in the space of just six days, Kompany opted to make wholesale changes to his side – 10 in total from the weekend defeat to Aston Villa.
Dara O’Shea was the only man to retain his spot, while Arijanet Muric replaced James Trafford in goal while Jay Rodriguez came in for Sunday’s goalscorer Lyle Foster in attack.
Aaron Ramsey, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Nathan Redmond were all handed their first starts of the season, while Wilson Odobert was named on the bench for the first time.
Jordan Beyer and Michael Obafemi missed out through injury, while Darko Churlinov remains unavailable due to his summer health scare.
Anass Zaroury, meanwhile, served the second game of his three-match suspension following the straight red he was shown against Man City on the opening day.
As for Forest, Steve Cooper made seven changes to the side that squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 against Manchester United on Saturday.
At Old Trafford they scored twice in the opening four minutes and they almost made a quick start on this occasion too, Cheikhou Kouyate skewing over with a rising effort and the hosts had dispossessed Burnley in their own half.
Jay Rodriguez provided Burnley’s first chance, continuing his promising cameo off the bench against Aston Villa with a threatening run in behind during the early minutes, only for the ball to unintentionally hit his arm rather than his midriff when he was otherwise through on goal.
During the first half, Kompany’s men were the better team, possessing the ball with precision and creating space for themselves with sharp movement.
With a great cross from the left, Bruun Larsen produced a potential chance, which Rodriguez did well to flick on. A scramble occurred, but Forest just about cleared their lines before a Clarets player scored the game’s first goal.
Forest’s biggest threat came via their counter, which caused Burnley issues when they were forced into making errors in their own half.
One such occasion saw Dara O’Shea forced into making an important covering tackle after Anthony Elanga had been set free in behind.
Burnley were dealt an injury blow 10 minutes before the interval when Vitinho was forced off with a knock, albeit it looked to be more of a precaution and didn’t look overly serious. Ameen Al-Dakhil was the man to replace him.
As soon as the change was made, Forest threatened as Kouyate wastefully blazed over with a volley after the Clarets had only partially cleared their lines inside their own box.
Burnley ended the half well with a couple of chances in injury time, Ramsey seeing a shot blocked before Josh Brownhill curled just over from 25 yards out.
Burnley were dealt two more injury blows at the start of the second-half following the forced withdrawal of Vitinho during the opening 45 minutes.
Aaron Ramsey was the first, walking off after a brief stoppage, but the third and more serious blow came when Hjalmar Ekdal was stretchered off with his head in his hands after being involved in a melee in the Burnley box.
The Swede received a standing ovation from all four sides of the stadium as he was led off the field to be replaced by midfielder Josh Cullen, forcing Brownhill to drop into the back four.
While the game lost some of its form in the second period, chances remained plentiful. Despite this, Burnley remained the most plausible and posed the most concerns.
The first serious chance of the second half came in the 76th minute, and it came from Burnley’s Bruun Larsen.
The winger was set clear down the right, where he controlled the ball superbly before hitting across the goalkeeper but wide.
Forest hit back with a great chance of their own, Ryan Yates heading inches wide from Elanga’s driven cross in from the left. Such was the ferocity of the header and the way Muric remained rooted to his line, the home fans thought their side had finally broken the deadlock.
Kompany made a last roll of the dice shortly afterwards, bringing on Wilson Odobert for his Burnley debut as well as Zeki Amdouni and Lyle Foster.
With six subs made, one extra owing to a concussion, presumingly for Ramsey, the last thing Burnley needed was another knock. That briefly looked like it would be the case when Foster took a blow to the head, but thankfully he soon got back to his feet and was able to continue.
With 11 men still on the pitch, the Clarets finally broke the deadlock in the last minute of normal time to the absolute jubilation of those away fans behind the goal.
Amdouni was the man to get it, cheating the ball down and slamming home from close range to score his first Burnley goal after fellow sub Sander Berge had made a great driving run forward.
But due to all of the stoppages, the fourth official signalled for 11 minutes to be added on, meaning Burnley still had plenty of defending to do to hold on.
The Clarets tried all the tricks in the book as the seconds ticked by, Muric predictably receiving a yellow card for taking too long over a goal kick.
Debutant Odobert should have put Burnley out of sight eight minutes into the 11 when he was sent clear through on goal after Forest had sent everyone bar their keeper forward. But a miraculous save from Turner kept the scores at 1-0.
While the home side continued to throw men forward, Burnley – and Muric in particular – held firm as the Clarets held out for their first win of the campaign.
TEAMS
Forest: Turner, Aurier, Montiel (Gibbs-White), Boly, Williams (Toffolo), Kouyate (Johnson), Niakhate, Yates, Santos, Elanga, Wood (Awoniyi)
Subs not used: Horvath, Ui-Jo, Aguilera, Aina, Felipe
Burnley: Muric, Vitinho (Al-Dakhil), O’Shea, Ekdal (Cullen) Taylor, Brownhill, Gudmundsson, Ramsey (Berge), Bruun Larsen (Amdouni), Redmond (Odobert), Rodriguez (Foster)
Subs not used: Trafford, Cork, Benson
Referee: Robert Madley
Attendance: 27,766
