Coventry Beat Forest for First Premier League Win in 25 Years
Coventry City ended a four-match losing run with a landmark 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest, their first Premier League victory in 25 years, as Jay Dasilva’s second-half finish settled a tense contest at the City Ground.
Forest appeared to have rescued a point late on when Igor Jesus found the net, only for VAR to rule out the equaliser for a foul. Frank Lampard accepted the decision while stressing that his players had earned the breaks that came their way through their application and discipline.
The Coventry manager said the opening four defeats had created understandable uncertainty within a group still adapting to the division. “After losing our first four matches, each in different ways, it is easy to become negative and wonder where the goals and the win will come from,” he said. “In football, you have to fight and work for it, and you need organisation.”
Lampard praised the contribution across his side rather than singling out only Dasilva, whose goal gave Coventry the margin they needed. “I could talk through so many of the players and the way they worked individually within the team,” he said.
On the overturned Forest goal, Lampard added that he believed the incident was a foul. “You create your own luck with VAR in some ways,” he said. “I think it is a foul, but when you work as hard as the boys did, they deserve that.”
A squad learning the Premier League
Coventry have had to make the step up with limited top-flight experience in their ranks. Only three members of Saturday’s starting XI had previously played Premier League football before this campaign, leaving Lampard to manage a group encountering the level for the first time.
He contrasted that challenge with the expectations often placed on promoted teams, noting that development at the highest level does not happen instantly. “A lot of these players have come in for their first spell in the Premier League, and that is human nature,” Lampard said. “You cannot just expect them to arrive and own it like Wayne Rooney or other superstars did.”
“They have worked hard throughout their careers to reach this point. We are trying to bring that out of them, and when they perform as they did today, you can see it.”
Coventry will return from the three-week international break to host Newcastle, carrying their first points and first win of the season into the next phase of their Premier League campaign.
