Nottingham Forest’s five-match unbeaten streak came to a halt at the City Ground as Brighton and Hove Albion secured a 2-0 victory.
Sean Dyche’s side had been aiming for a fourth consecutive win across all competitions but got off to a rocky start on the banks of the Trent.
Brighton missed several early opportunities, with Matz Sels blocking Yankuba Minteh and Ibrahim Sangare making a crucial stop to deny Georginio Rutter from a corner.
Forest struggled to build momentum, barely leaving their own half. Their first meaningful attack arrived around the 20-minute mark, ending in a wayward effort from Morgan Gibbs-White.
That moment, however, sparked a brighter spell for the hosts. Nicolas Dominguez tested the goalkeeper from a corner soon after, before setting up Gibbs-White for an acrobatic volley that narrowly missed.
Despite Forest’s positive play, they fell behind just before halftime. Maxim De Cuyper capitalised on a Rutter assist to slot the ball past Sels on the stroke of the break.
A double substitution at halftime saw the Reds increase their attacking threat in the second half.
However, Sels produced a stunning double save to deny Diego Gomez and Ferdi Kadioglu, keeping Brighton in the lead.
With 20 minutes remaining, Igor Jesus was denied as Forest hunted for an equaliser. Yet, a Morato mistake allowed Stefanos Tzimas to seal the game in the 88th minute.
