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 debatable 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.