Nottingham Forest were defeated 1-0 by Bristol City yesterday afternoon as new boss Martin O’Neill was denied a fairytale return.
The new Reds boss witnessed an abject display from his new charges; with the challenge of lifting confidence within the squad looking like a tough task.
Forest have won just once during their last nine Championship fixtures and the Reds never looked like winning on Saturday.

(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
O’Neill went into his first game in charge with a defensive crisis of sorts and new signing Yohan Benalouane was handed his debut, despite only penning terms at the City Ground on Friday.
The Tunisian signed an 18-month contract from Leicester City and went straight into the starting line-up.
Some Forest fans had questioned the arrival of the defender given that he hasn’t played a great deal of football during the last couple of years.
Those cynics needn’t have worried, however, as Benalouane looked comfortable at the heart of the back four; proving to be one of Forest’s standout performers on an otherwise miserable afternoon.
Following a solid maiden showing by Benalouane, Seat Pitch rounded up supporters’ thoughts from the world of Twitter.
Well I thought @YohanBenalouane was bloody fab today bearing in mind he only signed 2 days ago. Got high hopes for the lad 😊
— Username_is_already_taken__ (@Klg1711) January 19, 2019
Aside from a very accomplished debut performance @YohanBenalouane has already made a great first impression with supporters and team mates. Great pro, 👌 attitude, you can already see why he was so popular at #lcfc and will be a great asset to #nffc too.
— Forest FanBase (@ForestFanBase) January 20, 2019
A really good debut , particularly as he had not been playing regularly. He wanted to win those balls coming in. And he did. 👍
— Chris Carr (@ChrisCarrNG9) January 20, 2019
I thought he was really good yesterday. Very good in the air, he was like a magnet at times. Very unlucky to get a yellow for a challenge that didn’t even look a foul from where I was sat. Almost scored too.
— James (@jship90) January 20, 2019
@YohanBenalouane good debut today…shame about the result #nffc
— Richwatson (@Richwat65020170) January 20, 2019
Credit to @YohanBenalouane was quality today 🔴
— Daniel_Gooday (@dggooday) January 19, 2019
One really bright spot though was @YohanBenalouane who looks outstanding in the air at least. 💪💯 #nffc
— Forest FanBase (@ForestFanBase) January 19, 2019
Never missed a header great debut n unlucky not to score great save by Bristol keeper
— Philip Steel (@philsteel57) January 20, 2019