For the seventh time since Head Coach Graham Potter took charge in January this year, his West Ham United team were defeated by a single goal in a Premier League game.
This time it was Nottingham Forest who edged out Potter’s Hammers, taking advantage of a defensive error and a fortuitous set-piece goal to secure a 2-1 victory at London Stadium.
The Irons had more goal attempts and more touches in the opposition penalty area than the Reds but, not for the first time in Potter’s tenure, a combination of good goalkeeping, missed chances, bad luck and unpredictable officiating led to a narrow loss.
West Ham had plenty of opportunities to win or at least draw this game, as Tomáš Souček, Vladimír Coufal and Niclas Füllkrug were all denied by Forest stopper Matz Sels, and a succession of other threatening efforts were blocked.
At the other end, Morgan Gibbs-White was gifted Forest’s first by a loose pass out by goalkeeper Alphonse Areola - who was otherwise excellent - before Nikola Milenković bundled in the second with his shoulder from Anthony Elanga’s free-kick.
Jarrod Bowen pulled one back with a rasping volley late on before the game descended into 17 chaotic minutes of added time marked by repeated stoppages from referee Sam Barrott.
For Potter, it was another frustrating day, but one on which he also admitted his team simply have to perform better if they are to turn narrow defeats into draws and victories…
We had a good start, a good chance with Tomáš, and Vladi had an opportunity as well.
We tried to be on the front foot, playing against a good team, I have to say that, that are obviously fighting for the Champions League. So the [opening] goal probably affected us a little bit too much, a bit more than we would like it to, and obviously it gives them confidence.
But these things happen in football, the players tried to stay in it, tried to stay competitive, which they were.
We started the second half quite well as well, with balls into the box. I thought we'd make some changes just to try to get some more impetus in the game and then just as we did that, we conceded so it was 2-0 with a marginal goal.
But credit to the players, they dug in, carried on, the spirit was there, the substitutes came in and had a right go.
So, we came up short, which is disappointing, but there was a lot there as well.
We did play some good stuff in the last half-hour.
It was tricky. It was not an easy game, with lots of stop-starts and a bit of frustration there.
But I thought the boys pushed and pushed towards the end. You can see the reaction of Nottingham Forest, they were hanging on but again, we came up a little bit short.
So we have to lick our wounds and go again for next week.
We have to do better. That's what it is. That's the challenge for us.
We have to lift the level because you can't sit around waiting for the margins to turn. You've got to make them turn. But that's fine. That's what we know.
As I said before, we inherited a situation where the team has conceded a lot of goals. We feel that we've changed that. We feel like we've made the team more competitive and every game we've been competitive.
But nevertheless, the points tally, what we want to do, isn't as big as we'd like. Having said that, attack-wise, we've made some steps, but not enough.
And again, to the teams that are competing to be in the Champions League, there is still a difference there that we have to strive to get better and try to get towards.
I said after the game, it was never in doubt that Cress and Vladi would give everything.
They're fantastic professionals, people, servants of the Club. It's just to be appreciative and to thank them and just to wish them well because they've been incredible for us.
I think that was a team that was fighting until the end. They were fighting for the four lads that were leaving us. They were fighting to represent that in a good way. I think they did that.
We want to win. Of course we do. We want to win. I thought the way the team fought to the end and acted was positive.
And then it's just to say thank you to the supporters again because they were fantastic with us, stuck with us and pushed us to the end. So we want to give them more, absolutely, but we have to thank them for the support this season.
