Nottingham Forest 2 West Ham United 1

Last updated : 26 September 2004 By Footymad Previewer

A fabulous last-gasp strike by Marlon King two minutes into stoppage time earned Nottingham Forest their first win of the season in a thrilling 2-1 victory over West Ham United.

Trophies won by Forest legend Brian Clough were paraded on the pitch by former players before the game, but there will be few supporters at the City Ground convinced the present side are capable of winning any silverware in the foreseeable future.

Despite producing a below-par performance for 80 minutes, the home side showed the spirit Clough would have been proud of by overcoming a one-goal deficit to win with two spectacular strikes in the last ten minutes.

Marlon Harewood fired the Hammers ahead against his old club 12 minutes into the second half after Matthew Etherington had taken advantage of a James Perch mistake.

The unmarked Harewood was allowed to tap the ball into an empty net from seven yards.

The goal stunned a Forest side that seemed incapable of picking themselves up but they equalised against the run of play thanks to a screaming 25-yard Paul Evans strike in the 82nd minute.

Two minutes into stoppage time, King emerged as Forest's hero.

The former Gillingham striker had been booed by the home supporters when he replaced Andy Impey in the second half after refusing to play under Joe Kinnear.

But when Andy Reid played a throughball to him, King managed to turn away from a defender before curling a stunning 20-yard shot past Stephen Bywater.

The victory will be a massive lift for Forest as they had failed to win any of their first nine games of the season. Expectations will be high that they can make it two wins out of two against Brighton on Wednesday.