NOTTINGHAM, England — Nottingham Forest held visitors Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw in the English Premier League, halting a run of five consecutive defeats and moving off the bottom of the table.
The draw took Forest into 19th place on five points from nine games, climbing above East Midlands neighbours Leicester City. Villa stayed 16th but moved onto nine points, Reuters reported.
Forest went ahead in the 15th minute when striker Emmanuel Dennis took advantage of slack marking from the Villa defence to head in a free kick from Morgan Gibbs-White.
Villa responded in the 22nd with a superb Ashley Young strike from outside the area and thought they had taken the lead later in the first half when Ollie Watkins put the ball in the net only to be flagged offside.
Forest manager Colin Cooper, who made 22 signings in the close season, is still struggling to settle on a starting line-up and made five changes from the side thrashed 4-0 at Leicester last week.
His team managed to control the game and keep their opponents in check and after a frantic start the two sides mostly cancelled each other out in a drab second period.
Morgan White-Gibbs whipped in an inviting free-kick from the right, which Dennis got to first to plant a firm header into the bottom corner from 10 yards.
But Villa’s response was swift and they equalised seven minutes later as Young produced a spectacular leveller.
The 37-year-old collected a clearance 25 yards out and then unleashed an unstoppable drive that Dean Henderson had no chance of keeping out of the bottom corner.
The visitors thought they had turned it around three minutes later as Ollie Watkins slid home Jacob Ramsey’s low cross, but the assistant’s flag immediately went up.
After a slow start to the second half, the game opened up after the hour mark as both sides went for the jugular.
Watkins could not get enough power on his header from Douglas Luiz’s cross as Villa pushed before Forest sprang to life and had two efforts.
Gibbs-White sent a shot from distance with the outside of his boot just wide before Cheikhou Kouyate forced Emiliano Martinez into a stretching save with another shot from outside the area.
But any hopes that flurry might set up grandstand finish were misplaced as, although the intensity of the game remained, chances were scarce as it ended 1-1.
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