August 30 (THEWILL) – Zeki Amdouni netted a cool, last-gasp winner to see Burnley edge past Nottingham Forest and reach the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Swiss international, Amdouni, wonderfully controlled Josh Brownhill’s pass before firing a finish past Matt Turner for the victorious goal and one of only two efforts on target in the entire contest. It provided Vincent Kompany’s side their first victory of the season and sent four-time winners Forest out of the competition at the first obstacle.
With 11 minutes added on, Steve Cooper’s side pushed for an equaliser to take the game to penalties, but Burnley held firm to put their name in the hat for the next round. Debutant Wilson Odobert could have added a second late on when through on goal, but the French teenager’s low shot was kept out by Turner’s save.
In all, it was a drab contest from kickoff. Cheikhou Kouyate blazed over from the edge of the box for the hosts and visiting captain Brownhill curled narrowly over as neither side managed an effort on target in a poor first half.
Burnley’s best chance of the second half fell to debutant Jacob Bruun Larsen, who latched onto Brownhill’s cross-field ball but dragged his shot wide. Despite the victory, Kompany will be concerned by a serious-looking injury to defender Hjalmar Ekdal, who was carried off on a stretcher following a collision in the box. Summer signing Aaron Ramsey and Vitinho also limped off to leave Burnley with injury issues to deal with before Saturday’s Premier League game against Tottenham at Turf Moor.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
