Coventry stun Forest for first top-flight win since 2001
Coventry City beat Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday 19 September, earning a first win in the top division since April 2001.
The goal came in the 55th minute. Jay Dasilva finished it for Coventry, running onto a long diagonal ball from goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and beating the Forest defence, according to match reporting from The Guardian. One pass. One finish. One end of the ground erupted.
It mattered because Coventry had arrived with nothing to show. They were bottom of the Premier League table ahead of the match and had yet to score this season, as noted in pre-match preview coverage from Yahoo Sport. They left with three points.
The wait tells its own story. Coventry’s previous Premier League scorer before Dasilva was Mustapha Hadji, whose goal came in a defeat at Aston Villa that confirmed relegation. More than 25 years later, Dasilva wrote the next line.
Frank Lampard is the man in charge of Coventry. He watched his side defend their lead through a tense finish. Forest pushed. Chances came and went. The visitors held their shape.
The late drama centred on VAR, the video system used to review key decisions. Coventry benefited from a late call that went against Forest. It enraged Forest fans, coaches and players inside the stadium. Oliver Glasner, Forest’s coach, cut a frustrated figure in the technical area as the decision stood.
For Forest, it was a sharp fall. They had won away at Aston Villa the week before. Before this defeat, Burnley in April were the only visiting team to win a league match at the City Ground in 2026.
This was also a reunion. Forest hosted Coventry at the City Ground for the first time in four years, since 2022. The fixture was part of the 380-game 2026/27 Premier League schedule listed by the Premier League, and was shown on Sky Sports.
What makes this stand out is the shared weight of it. Older Coventry supporters remember the old top flight. Younger ones only know the stories. For 90 minutes in Nottingham, they lived the same moment together.
