Leeds United manager makes ‘dominated’ claim after Nottingham Forest win

Leeds United boss Javi Gracia has said his side “dominated” Nottingham Forest during the first half of their 2-1 win at Elland Road on Tuesday evening.

Steve Cooper’s team had taken the lead in the 12th minute after Orel Mangala’s scored his first Forest goal but the hosts responded with goals from Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra in the first half.

The result leaves the Reds 17th in the Premier League table and only outside of the bottom three on goal difference. Forest have only won once away in the league this season with a 1-0 win at Southampton in January their only win on the road.

And after the game Leeds boss Javi Garcia was keen to stress how big a win it was for his team.

He said: “(The win is) very important, to be honest we deserved this today. We played an amazing first half. The reaction from the team was perfect. We had 74% of possession, we dominated the game in the first half.

“The best chances were for us, we deserved to kill the game.

“We were able to keep doing the good things we usually do. In my opinion maybe we play the best minutes in the time I am here. It happens, if you don’t kill the game, after you can suffer a little bit.

“The way Forest usually play they are very compact in the middle and when they recover they are really dangerous. The team defended really well, were really focused. It’s good for our team.

“In the second half maybe we didn’t start well. But after that period we were improving, we were creating clear chances and that was the moment where we had to kill the game.”

Brian Clough is a true Nottingham Forest legend. Two European Cups, a league title, two European Super Cups, four League Cups and close to two decades of cherished memories – Cloughie really was unique.