Anton Stach's late free-kick sinks Nottingham Forest in Glasner's debut
Oliver Glasner walked into the City Ground as Nottingham Forest’s latest new hope. He walked out beaten by a set-piece specialist with a taste for late drama.
With two minutes of normal time left and the game drifting towards a draw, Anton Stach stood over a free-kick on the edge of the Forest box. He had earned the foul himself, tempting Nikola Milenkovic into a clumsy challenge. The German then did what he has been doing better than anyone else in the league.
He bent the ball over the wall, whipped it towards the near post and left Matz Sels clawing at thin air. 1-0 Leeds. Glasner’s reign, Forest’s fifth managerial era in less than a year, began with a gut punch.
Set-pieces define a cagey opener
This was not a game of sweeping moves and open spaces. It was tight, tense, and dominated by dead balls.
Leeds thought they had struck first just before the half-hour. Harry Wilson, eager to mark his debut in style, timed his run into the box and side-footed Jayden Bogle’s low cross into the net. For a few seconds, the away end roared. Then the flag went up. Offside. Forest survived.
That scare seemed to jolt the hosts into life. As half-time approached, Forest finally forced Leeds back. A scramble in the box ended with centre-back Jair Cunha climbing highest and thudding a header against the post, Illan Meslier’s replacement James Trafford beaten. The City Ground held its breath. The ball bounced out. Leeds escaped.
Forest carried that threat into the second half. Ten minutes after the restart, Igor Jesus met an Ola Aina cross but could only steer his header wide. The chance was there; the finish wasn’t.
Leeds’ new faces stand up
Daniel Farke had demanded backing after Leeds finished eight points clear of the drop last season. He got it. Around £80m went into reshaping his side, with Trafford, Wilson and Tarik Muharemovic all arriving and all starting here.
Trafford, signed for a record fee for a British goalkeeper, showed why Leeds pushed so hard for him. After just 17 minutes, he sprang to his right to tip away a powerful effort from Igor Jesus, a save that underlined his status as more than just a long-term project.
Wilson, fresh from 10 goals and seven assists with Fulham last season, buzzed around the right flank. His big moment came with that disallowed goal, but another chance will gnaw at him: he pounced on a Bogle cut-back with Dominic Calvert-Lewin lurking onside behind him, a better-positioned option he never used.
Muharemovic, meanwhile, made his presence felt at the other end. On 70 minutes, the Bosnia-Herzegovina defender thundered a header goalwards, forcing Sels into his first serious save of the night. It was the first time Leeds truly tested the Forest keeper, a reminder that while Forest had more moments, Leeds still carried weight from set-plays.
Stach delivers the final word
As the clock ticked into the final minutes, a draw felt about right. Both sides had threatened, neither had truly seized control. Then Stach stepped up.
One of the most dangerous set-piece takers in the division, he already led the league in goals from outside the box since the start of last season. This made it five from distance in that period, and four from direct free-kicks – no one has more.
The technique was pure. The timing was ruthless. Forest’s wall jumped, Sels dived, but the ball skimmed just beyond his reach and nestled inside the near post. Leeds’ bench exploded, Glasner stared into the night, and the City Ground fell silent.
For Forest, it was a harsh introduction to life under their new manager. For Leeds, it was exactly the kind of sharp, disciplined away performance Farke has been trying to build – compact at the back, decisive when it mattered.
These two will see each other again here soon enough, in the Carabao Cup second round on Tuesday, 25 August. If this opener is any guide, that rematch will carry more than just cup progress on the line – it will test whether Forest can respond to an early setback, and whether Leeds are ready to aim higher than mere survival this season.
