Leeds 2 Nottingham Forest 1: Steve Cooper on the brink after devastating defeat to relegation rivals
STEVE COOPER’S job looked safe for all of eight minutes.
Orel Mangala’s eighth-minute opener catapulted Nottingham Forest up to 13th, piling the pressure onto Leeds in this crunch relegation clash.
Yet the Forest boss is now praying for another stay of execution from owner Evangelos Marinakis after throwing this one away.
Goals from Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra leaves them 17th, without a win since February and with a pitiful six points on the road all season.
The volatile Greek’s show of loyalty back in October, handing Cooper a new contract instead of sacking him when the going got tough, was admired by all.
Marinakis stuck back then but with the threat of an immediate relegation looming larger than ever – and after splurging £160million on transfers – now could be the time to twist and make Cooper the 13th managerial casualty of this crazy campaign.
Leeds were good value for this priceless victory which leapfrogs up five places from 18th to 13th.
Harrison started the comeback, firing through Keylor Navas after the keeper could only parry Marc Roca’s 25-yard effort.
But Sinisterra was the star – and how different their season might have been if the silky winger had stayed out of the treatment room.
Providing a bit of X-factor in west Yorkshire, the Colombian trickster was a menace all night and his stunner could prove the final nail in Cooper’s coffin.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Whatever happens, the Welshman will be a legend for life in Nottingham for taking over a ragtag bunch at the bottom of the Championship and ending their 23-year Prem exile eight months later.
And the travelling fans let their feelings known to Marinakis, singing Cooper’s name long before kick off.
They started the night one point above safety and it was almost a dream start, only for Emmanuel Dennis to stab a terribly cleared corner off the post from a couple of yards.
So woeful on the road all season, Cooper’s boys – set up to counter – started brilliantly and silenced Elland Road 12 minutes in.
Right back Luke Ayling was at fault, giving the ball away with an awful headed clearance.
Danilo fed Dennis down the left and he did brilliantly to tee up Mangala at the top of the box, with the Belgian midfielder taking one touch past Sinisterra’s weak challenge before burying in the bottom corner.
A great team goal – only their fifth on the road all campaign- it was Mangala’s first since signing from Stuttgart last summer.
But the mardy Leeds supporters were smiling again just eight minutes later however when Harrison bagged his third in four games.
The winger started it by darting in off the right and laying it off to Marc Roca 25 yards out.
His stinger proved too hot for Navas, who palmed it straight to the onrushing Harrison to bury.
It was all Leeds now in this error-strewn scrap as Forest stopped playing, and Sinisterra put the hosts ahead just before the break with a beauty.
Twisting and turning as he came into the box from the left flank, Neco Williams was made to look like a Sunday league plodder as the South American did him all ends before and bent into the far corner.
Forest’s early swagger was clearly a flash in the pan as it was Leeds who continued to dominate.
Harrison and Sinisterra both flashed wide before Patrick Bamford butchered a huge chance from 12 yards.
Forest huffed and puffed but Whites keeper Illan Meslier was a bystander all second half.
Whites interim boss Javi Gracia is only here until the end of the season at present but he is making a strong case to be kept on next term too.
There are surely plenty more twists and turns to come but the Spaniard is the first Leeds manager to remain in his first three home top-flight games since Allan Clarke in 1980.
Cooper made five subs as the game ticked on, trying anything to save his – and Forest’s – skin.
Elland Road was nervy as hell whenever the visitors got near their box.
But the Reds never came close to scoring as Leeds held on to leave them outside of the bottom three only on goal difference and Cooper clinging on for dear life.
Over to you, Evangelos.