Anton Stach's Late Free-Kick Sinks Forest in Glasner's Debut

Oliver Glasner walked into the City Ground to a roar and left to a murmur. His Nottingham Forest tenure began with a punch to the gut – a swerving, ruthless free-kick from Anton Stach in the 88th minute that gave Leeds United a 1-0 win and silenced a hopeful home crowd.

Forest’s fifth manager in under a year had spoken of fresh starts and new standards after replacing Vitor Pereira, who departed despite dragging the club away from relegation trouble. For 88 minutes, Glasner looked on course for something solid if unspectacular: a point, a clean sheet, a platform.

Stach tore that script up.

Tight, tense, and decided by dead balls

This was no flowing opener. It was a grind, heavy on set-pieces and low on clear chances, both sides jostling for territory and rhythm more than control.

Leeds thought they had cracked it first. As the half-hour approached, Harry Wilson almost wrote himself into the club’s recent history. The winger, lively and sharp on debut, timed his run into the box to meet Jayden Bogle’s low cross and side-footed into the net. The away end erupted. The flag went up.

Replays showed Wilson had gone too early. The goal was chalked off, and Forest escaped.

The disallowed strike jolted the hosts. Forest finished the first half stronger, feeding off loose balls and second phases. From a scrappy sequence inside the Leeds box, centre-back Jair Cunha rose highest and crashed a header against the post. For a moment, Illan Meslier’s replacement James Trafford – the club’s record signing for a British goalkeeper – was beaten. The woodwork saved him.

Trafford stands tall, Forest fall short

Leeds arrived in Nottingham with questions about ambition. Daniel Farke had asked for backing after finishing eight points clear of the bottom three last season. The board answered with money: around £80m on Trafford, Wilson and Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic.

All three started. All three mattered.

Trafford showed exactly why Leeds paid big. Just 17 minutes in, Igor Jesus climbed to meet a cross and powered a header towards the bottom corner. Trafford flung himself across his goal and clawed it away, a full-stretch save that underlined his billing.

Wilson buzzed around the final third, linking with Bogle and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but his big moment went begging. When Bogle drilled another low ball across the area, Wilson darted in front of Calvert-Lewin and finished – only to realise the striker behind him had stayed onside and was better placed. The chance went, and with it a cleaner narrative to his debut.

Muharemovic had to wait for his headline. On 70 minutes, he thundered a header on target, forcing Matz Sels into his first real test of the night. It was a warning that Leeds, who had spent much of the second half absorbing pressure, still carried a threat.

Forest, for their part, created enough to feel aggrieved. Ten minutes after the restart, Igor Jesus again found space in the box, attacking an Ola Aina cross but glancing his header wide. The margins stayed thin, the tension thick.

Stach’s specialist touch breaks Forest hearts

As the clock ticked towards the final minutes, a draw seemed inevitable, maybe even fair. Then Stach stepped forward.

The German midfielder, one of the Premier League’s dead-ball specialists, earned a foul on the edge of the area after drawing contact from Nikola Milenkovic. It was the kind of moment Forest had been wary of all evening. They knew the numbers. They still couldn’t stop him.

Stach placed the ball, took a short run-up and whipped his effort over the Forest wall and inside Sels’ near post. The goalkeeper sprang, fingertips straining, but the ball curled just beyond his reach and into the net.

Leeds’ bench exploded. Glasner stared, motionless for a beat, as the reality of his first night in charge settled in.

The strike was not just spectacular; it was in keeping with Stach’s growing reputation. Since the start of last season, no player has scored more from direct free-kicks than his four. His tally of five goals from outside the box in that period is unmatched. When the game hinges on a set-piece, he is exactly where Leeds want the ball to fall.

Leeds look up, Forest look for answers

For Farke, this was the ideal launchpad. A clean sheet away from home, major signings all on show, and three points secured by a player who embodies their threat from dead balls. A team that spent last season glancing nervously over its shoulder now has every reason to aim higher.

For Glasner, the performance offered fragments of encouragement – resilience, structure, chances created – but no reward. In a club that has burned through managers at a startling rate, he knows time and patience are rarely guaranteed.

There is no wait for a rematch. Forest and Leeds meet again at the City Ground on Tuesday, 25 August, in the Carabao Cup second round.

Same venue. Same managers. Same players. Forest will hope the script, and the ending, are very different.