Even Jürgen Klopp made his case for Steve Cooper deserving the manager of the season award and it is impossible to argue otherwise after Nottingham Forest ended their 23-year exile from the top flight to seal promotion to the Premier League. When Cooper took over in September, Forest were bottom but after an extraordinary run they are back in the big time.
An own goal by Levi Colwill proved the difference but those of a Huddersfield persuasion will point towards two peculiar refereeing decisions late in the second half as moments that went against them. By the end Forest fans, many with hands on heads taking it all in, swayed through six minutes of stoppage time, nerves frayed. Up in the directors’ box, Evangelos Marinakis, superstitious at the best of times, stood hands on hips.
Perhaps it was inevitable that VAR, introduced for the playoffs this season, would play its part in a game of such magnitude after not being called into action in either the League One or League Two equivalent. Things could have been very different had the VAR, Paul Tierney, decided that Jack Colback fouled Harry Toffolo inside the box with 73 minutes gone. Colback appeared to trip Toffolo as he jinked inside the box but Jon Moss, refereeing his final game before moving to an upstairs role, booked the Huddersfield wing-back for simulation before the flashpoint was reviewed at Stockley Park.
If Forest were lucky then, they were extremely fortunate that the VAR did not take a closer look at the substitute Max Lowe bundling Lewis O’Brien over inside the box without making any contact with the ball.
This game was only a quarter of an hour old when Forest supporters, sifting their way through the back-catalogue of chants, landed on “if Yatesy scores, we’re in the Thames” and while Ryan Yates did not put the ball in the Huddersfield net, he played a significant role in Forest doing so. The decisive moment arrived on 43 minutes when James Garner, on loan from Manchester United, fizzed a cross into the box. Colback ducked, as if versed on what was about to unfold, and Colwill, under pressure from Yates, put the ball past his own goalkeeper, Lee Nicholls. Every outfield Forest player joined the celebrations and at the opposite end the scene was a picture. Supporters let off red smoke bombs and frantically waved their scarves overhead.
Yates, who joined the club aged eight, was one of three homegrown players in the Forest starting lineup, including Brennan Johnson, who was kept relatively quiet. Huddersfield, for whom O’Brien was particularly impressive in midfield, had looked the more fluid and were beginning to shade things until Forest scored but it was Yates who had the first clean opening. Naby Sarr clumsily upended Philip Zinckernagel and from the subsequent free-kick Garner located Yates but the Forest midfielder, who got free of Tom Lees, dropped his header narrowly wide.
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Huddersfield struggled to work the Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba, the penalty shootout hero in the semi-finals, but Sorba Thomas kept the Forest captain Joe Worrall guessing. Thomas skipped past Worrall 10 minutes before the break but his cross was dealt with and a few minutes later Danny Ward saw a shot deflected over. Ward got the better of Worrall on the touchline and Garner made a thudding challenge which resulted in a corner. Thomas played the ball low towards the penalty spot, where Ward, who peeled off his marker arrived from the back post but Forest got a block in.
In the second half another Thomas cross proved problematic, this time from the right, but Djed Spence shepherded the ball out. Thomas whipped the resulting corner towards the front post but an unmarked Jonathan Hogg headed over. Hogg was livid with himself. For Forest, who replaced Samba with Ethan Horvath with a minute to spare, the emotions ran wild.