A poor game characterised by some poor finishing and the customary dropping of points from a winning position, Newcastle United drawing 1-1 at the City Ground when all three points were there for the taking against an injury ravaged Nottingham Forest.
Plenty have been clamouring for Nick Woltemade to be played in the ten spot, but on this evidence, maybe Eddie’s reluctance to do so in previous weeks was well founded.
That said, it was the big German who created the only big chance in a first half bereft of quality, skilfully carrying the ball through the middle of the park before releasing Will Osula whose finish needed to be better if he was ever going to put the ball past former United keeper, Matt Sels.
Forest continued to look disjointed and out of sorts in the opening exchanges of the second half, and with momentum gathering, it seemed only a matter of time before United would score.
Bruno Guimaraes had three chances to do so, a free kick from fully thirty five yards went just past the upright, whilst two other efforts from the Brazilian were stopped by Sels.
Will Osula then saw his free kick cannon off the Forest crossbar before United’s second half dominance saw them edge in front with just over fifteen minutes to go.
Jacob Ramsey, on for a jaded looking Woltemade, threaded a glorious ball through to Harvey Barnes, himself a second half subsitute, who held off the challenge of Morato to whack the ball over Sels and send the travelling hordes at the Bridgford End into raptures.
The joy in the away end was shortlived however, as United stalled and instead of pushing for a second, invited pressure, eventually ceding their narrow lead in the 88th minute when former midfielder Elliot Anderson exchanged passes with James McAtee, before sending an effort past Nick Pope from a tight angle.
In the eight minutes of added time Forest looked the more likely as United couldn’t retain possession, but the game petered out to end all square, and whilst that’s two League games undefeated for United, any lingering hopes of European qualification were surely extinguished by a player Newcastle were forced to let go in order to satisfy FFP regulations.
Nottingham Forest 1 Newcastle United 1 – Sunday 10 May 2026 2pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Barnes 74
Forest:
Anderson 88
Possession was Newcastle 54% Forest 46%
Total shots were Newcastle 16 Forest 17
Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Forest 6
Corners were Newcastle 1 Forest 2
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 28 Forest 23
Newcastle team v Forest:
Pope, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Hall, Bruno (Trippier 95), Tonali, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy (Barnes 61), Woltemade (Ramsey 61), Osula (Wissa 71)
Unused subs:
Ramsdale, Gordon, Elanga, Willock, Alex Murphy