A tense game between two promotion play-off candidates in the EFL Championship was settled by a moment of magic as Fulham defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground.
Harry Arter's rasping 25-yard drive in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time gave the Cottagers all three points and propelled them into third place in the table while Forest remain fifth.
Story of the game
Fulham came to Nottinghamshire without the services of their leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is serving a three match ban and skipper Tom Cairney, out through injury. Josh Onomah replaced him with manager Scott Parker making a further two changes, Neeskens Kebano and Joe Bryan replacing Anthony Knockaert and Cyrus Christie.
Forest manager Sambri Lambouchi made two changes to his side, bringing in Sammy Ameobi and Tiago Silva in place of Nuno da Costa and Ryan Yates and they fashioned their first chance of the game on seven minutes as Joe Lolley cut in from the right, but his effort flashed wide of the Fulham goal. The home side defense was soon called into action as they deflected Ivan Cavaleiro's cross from the byline.
On 17 minutes, Fulham were nearly in trouble when Tim Ream miscontrolled a long ball, allowing Lewis Grabban to latch on to it, but Michael Hector held him up well enough to take the pace out of the shot. Sammy Ameobi was next to test the Cottagers back line as his cross hit Denis Odoi in the arm, which was adjudged to have been in front of his body. The Nigerian whipped in another cross, which was sent away by Bryan.
Bobby Decordova-Reid made a brilliant solo run to surge into the Forest half and tried his luck from 30 yards away, but whipped his shot over the bar. Two minutes into first-half stoppage time, Matty Cash played in a lovely ball to Grabban, but he screwed his effort horribly wide.
The half appeared to be headed for a 0-0 scoreline until a bit of luck came the visitors way. A loose touch by Arter allowed Ben Watson to pinch the ball in, but the midfielder regained possession and lashed an unstoppable shot into the top right corner, leaving Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba with no chance.
The game remained scrappy and two of Forest's substitutes combined to threaten the Fulham goal as Adama Diakhaby played a ball to Alfa Semedo, but his effort was easily gathered in by goalkeeper Marek Rodak. Samba was called on to stop Knockaert's shot in the 79th minute and a minute later, the hosts were nearly level.
The Forest goalkeeper sent a long punt down on to the head of Da Costa, whose looping shot was gathered in by Rodak on his line. There were no more clear-cut chances for either side as Fulham moved to within two points of second place whilst Forest saw their automatic promotion chances all but disappear.
Man of the Match: Harry Arter
In a game that severely lacked any quality chances in the final third, Arter's bit of brilliance also showed his composure after a bad first touch. His fierce shot that beat Samba to give Fulham all three points may be one of the biggest goals of his career.
Takeaways
Fulham produced results even with Mitrovic suspended
The Championship's leading scorer was serving the final match of a three-match ban, but the Cottagers still produced wins in all three of those matches with Arter scoring twice. The results give the Cottagers a chance at automatic promotion, especially with a game against second-place West Bromwich Albion to come.
Forest never severely tested the Fulham defense
Although they produced some chances, many of the hosts' efforts were either wide, deflected or blocked. At times Grabban was playing too narrow and not given the service or space needed to get off a quality chance. With little else in the way of support, the Forest attack was too predictable.