Tomas Soucek strikes late as West Ham edge Nottingham Forest in thriller

To re-establish Nottingham Forest as a Premier League club, and keep Steve Cooper, a manager beloved among its fans comfortably in situ, an improvement in away form is badly required.

A game lost from a winning position, albeit one held for just two minutes, was a severe blow to both objectives. When it came down to it, even though they knew precisely what was coming, Forest’s failure to deal with James Ward-Prowse’s expert delivery and Tomas Soucek cost them the point they had been hanging on for since Jarrod Bowen’s equaliser.

While speculation over the widely admired Cooper may make little sense to outsiders, Evangelos Marinakis is an owner with his own, wilful mind, even if retaining the Welshman’s steady hand would seem a likely route to becoming the next Brighton or Brentford. Or indeed West Ham, even if David Moyes’ team has been enjoying cup competitions and European expeditions rather more than the Premier League of late. This was a first win in five.

For Cooper, who became only the the second Forest manager after Frank Clark to make it to 50 Premier League matches, early signs were unpromising. His team were down by the third minute. Nicolás Domínguez, trying to play out, succeeded only in rifling the ball off the rear end of teammate Ibrahim Sangaré. It fell into the path of Lucas Paquetá, requiring no invitation to crash the ball beyond Odysseas Vlachodimos. The Greek goalkeeper, so impressive in his debut the previous week, could not bail out Domínguez, who was consoled by teammates as Paquetá performed a celebration that recalled 90s dance sensation, the Lambada. A team who had taken one away point in two months, just four from six matches, were once more staring down the barrel.

Forest’s first-half response was admirable, their first big chance to pull level in the coming in the 12th minute, Alphonse Areola making a fine save from a Taiwo Awoniyi header, the Frenchman getting plenty of hang time to push away.

Vladimir Coufal and Anthony Elanga, down the Hammers’ right flank, became a key battle, with Harry Toffolo’s support on the overlap. Coufal’s early yellow made his afternoon’s work yet harder, though it was from the other flank from where Forest’s equaliser came, bookending a first half they had slowly gained control of. Sangaré dug the ball out from midfield and pinged Morgan Gibbs-White clear. Areola could only palm the resultant shot into the path of the awaiting Awoniyi.

This season, after so many years of sterling, back-breaking service, Michail Antonio is being phased out as West Ham’s line leader. Bowen has moved in from the flank to the centre, and while less adept with his back to goal, his direct running is used as foil for the twinned creative talents of Mohammed Kudus and Paquetá. David Moyes’ team can thrill on the counter but that comes at the detriment of their ball retention, with neither Paquetá nor Kudus the most committed to pressing high.

Forest almost took the lead in slow-motion fashion just as the second half began. Elanga and Awoniyi combined deliberately and rather too easily, and home fans sighed with relief when the striker failed to hit a target that had been left to aim at by a dawdling defence. West Ham fans had previously appeared to have extended the Remembrance Day minute’s silence to 45 but were now awoken by agitation and their team similarly woke up.

Ward-Prowse drifted a free-kick on to the roof of the net and Emerson fired wide but that weakness against opponents running at speed was exposed in Anthony Elanga’s goal. Ola Aina was given space to run and find the winger, who had escaped Coufal once more, with an angled pass. Elanga’s lengthy celebration soon lost its relevance as Bowen, performing an unlikely impression of Antonio, nodded in Ward-Prowse’s corner within what seemed like seconds of the restart.

That made it 11 goal involvements in 13 matches for Bowen, including nine goals. A bull-like physique honed over in the potato fields of his native Herefordshire represents Moyes’ best hope of arresting what has been a slide from a decent start to the season though Antonio, the old dependable, was thrown on in search of a winner in a game becoming increasingly scrappy,

West Ham looked to Ward-Prowse and Cooper, fatally, retrenched his team to defender deeper and deeper as full-time approached. All 11 Forest players were in their box as Ward-Prowse aimed a series of crosses for the likes of Antonio and Kurt Zouma to chase.

First, Soucek threw himself headlong to force a fine save from Vlachodimos, before Bowen, always in the vanguard, forced another corner. This time, Soucek, at the far post, made no mistake, and Vlachodimos, diving low, could not deny him. There was still time for Areola to make a late save from Divock Origi but Forest’s away travails were soon confirmed as an ongoing concern by the final whistle and West Ham celebrations.