Nottingham Forest crash out of Carabao Cup with first round defeat

In truth, it was no more than hosts Barnsley deserved as they dominated possession against a poor Forest side at Oakwell, leaving Forest without an away win since Tiago Silva’s goal secured a 1-0 win at Cardiff City in February.

And Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi admitted ‘nobody was 100 per cent really’ as he bemoaned his team’s lack of preparation.

"We started well, it was not so bad, but we didn’t create too much,” he admitted immediately after the match.

"We concedw one more time, a goal after many bounces inside the box, it’s the small details again.

"It’s not positive to start like that.

"Obviously, we are not ready after just three weeks, but it’s not good to start the season like that.

"We need absolutely to not accept to lose to and to change the mentality and to fight until the end.”

It was only a few short weeks ago that Forest finished the season 14 places and 21 points clear of Barnsley.

But the mood in either camp could not have been more different as the season drew to a close.

The teams met in their penultimate match of the season, when Patrick Schmidt’s injury time winner buoyed Barnsley enough to secure another victory and stay up – aided by Wigan Athletic’s point deduction – while Forest imploded to lose their final game and a five-goal advantage to miss out on the play-offs.

Fast forward to the opening day of the following season and a much-changed Forest side took to the field at Oakwell for the opening game of the season, a first-round clash in the Carabao Cup.

Manager Sabri Lamouchi sprung a few surprises in his starting XI, with Joao Carvalho seemingly back in favour, while young Jordan Gabriel was handed his first start, at right-back following the £16 million sale of Matty Cash to Aston Villa, with Carl Jenkinson having to settle for a place on the bench and Tendayi Darikwa missing out on the matchday squad, alongside Joe Lolley and Albert Adomah who also travelled.

New signing Tyler Blackett partnered Tobias Figueiredo in the centre of defence, while fellow new signing Mouad Bachirou also started, with Jack Colback, Lyle Taylor and Luke Freeman named on subs bench – Lolley, Samba Sow, Joe Worrall and Silva all missing out with injury. – but the result was the same.

Forest actually started brightly, Gabriel firing into the side netting in the first 15 seconds, before Ryan Yates saw his low shot comfortably saved by Jack Walton after five minutes.

But that was as good as it got for the Reds, in their new blue away kit, as Barnsley took a grip on the game that they never relinquished, although Brice Samba was only called into action once in the first 45 minutes, tipping over Conor Chaplin’s glancing header midway throuh the half as it ended goalless.

He was called into action within two minutes of the restart though, as Blackett missed a long ball foward. The ball reached Chaplin, but Samba dived to his left to tip it away.

Barnsley led two minutes later, Woodrow bundling the ball home after a scramble as Forest again struggled to clear their lines.

Woodrow then missed a glorious chance to make it two, heading Chaplin’s cross over from close range after Samba’s clearance had been charged down.

Lamouchi made three substitutions around the hoyur mark, bringing on Alex Mighten and handing Luke Freeman and Lyle Taylor their debuts as Forest looked to get back in the game and it spurred the Reds into life as they enjoyed a string of attacking possession, without ever threatening Walton’s goal.

But Barnsley reasserted their authority and Dominik Frieser should have made it 2-0 with 15 minutes to go.

Bachirou was robbed on the halfway line as Barnsley cleared Freeman’s left-wing free-kick and the hosts broke three against two, but Samba stood tall to palm Frieser’s shot away.

Taylor scuffed a volley into the ground against the bar from Freeman’s left-wing corner in the dying minutes, but Forest never looked like equalising as their League Cup campaign ended in a whimper.

Lamouchi tried to take some positives from the defeat, praising Gabriel for a ‘decent’ performance on his first start for the club, with just a ‘couple of mistakes’ after a ‘perfect first half’.

However, the head coach admitted the team will have to perform much better in West London next week when the Championship season kicks off properly with a trip to Queen’s Park Rangers.

Lamouchi did say that he hopes to have Lolley, Sow and Worrall available for selection for that game, although he suggested it would come too soon for influential midfielder Silva, who he said is likely to miss all of September.

Forest: Samba; Gabriel, Figueiredo, Blackett, Ribeiro; Yates, Bachirou; Da Costa, Carvalho (L Taylor, 59), Ameobi (Mighten, 59); Grabban (Freeman, 69). Substitutes not used: Smith, Jenkinson, Dawson, Colback.