You wait 55 years for a win at the City Ground and then you get two within three days.
That was the story for Leeds United as they followed up their 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League with a more convincing 2-0 success in a second round Carabao Cup tie.
Second half goals from two of their best players on the night, Dan James and James Justin, sealed victory in an impressively controlled performance.
After holding firm following a bright Forest start United went on to take a grip on proceedings and could have won by a bigger margin, although they did need goalkeeper James Trafford to make several saves.
Daniel Farke praised his Leeds United players after they came up with a second win in three days at Nottingham Forest.placeholder image
Daniel Farke praised his Leeds United players after they came up with a second win in three days at Nottingham Forest.
The hosts were occasionally dangerous on the break until the second goal 15 minutes from time allowed the Whites to see out the tie comfortably in the end.
“Good, very good,” was manager Daniel Farke's verdict.
“This is what we came for. You play a cup game in order to go through. Very happy about this. Yes, and of course with the level of performance because we had to wait very long for a win at Nottingham.
“To do this two times within three days, such a tough ground, this remarkable level of performance today was outstanding.
James Justin scored Leeds United's second goal in their Carabao Cup tie at Nottinghm Forest.placeholder image
James Justin scored Leeds United's second goal in their Carabao Cup tie at Nottinghm Forest.
“Saturday was really a tight game. But today, I think it's never in doubt that it was a fully deserved win. I think we dominated the game for many periods and were excellent.
“They defended really well in each half. I think we gave one chance away, but then the final moment was spot on, either with a good save in the second half or a good tackle in the first half.
“But my only concern was at half-time, more or less like we didn't reward ourselves for a really good performance. You know, when you play against a good side, sometimes it's a counter attack or deflected strike and then the momentum changes in the game.
“But not today. We stayed on it also in the second half.”
New centre-back Nico Elvedi came in for his debut in a side showing six changes from Saturday and made an instant impression with an assured performance that earned the praise of Farke.
He said: “We had probably a few candidates for man of the match, Nico is definitely one of them because such a performance after just being with us for a few days was outstanding.
“Against a physical striker like Wood who has scored so many goals over the last years, such a difficult away ground and not knowing really all his teammates also shows his quality and shows his experience.
“I think he was excellent with the ball, also calm and composed in possession, one of the reasons why we were nearly un-pressable, also this quality in possession and against the ball, very very switched on.
“I'm very happy, very happy with him. But I didn't expect anything else because I've worked with him and know his quality. And his CV speaks for himself. It's a very good piece of business and he will help us in the future.”
Early on Leeds got into good positions, particularly through Dan James getting forward well from his wing-back position, without being able to deliver the right final ball.
Trafford had to be alert to keep out a miss-hit cross from Ola Aina that threatened to creep in at the near post.
Igor Jesus went close with a header that had to be headed off the line by Justin.
The next threat was stopped by a great tackle by Ao Tanaka who then set the visitors away on a break with Noah Okafor and got up in support only to send a shot over from the edge of the box.
The impressive Tanaka next set up Sean Longstaff , but his shot-cross went harmlessly wide.
Longstaff had a better chance soon after when found in the box by James, but his shot lacked power and was easily saved.
Lukas Nmecha missed the next opportunity after being unable to turn in a threatening Noah Okafor cross.
Forest responded with Chris Wood sent through only for Joe Rodon to track back to make a perfectly timed tackle in the box.
Leeds were soon back on top, though, and James again raced away, but saw his shot saved. When the ball was swiftly played back in Nmecha's attempted back flick sent the ball wide.
After a frustrating first half United made the start to the second they wanted as Longstaff played in James who calmly finished to open the scoring.
It was suddenly an end to end game for a while with Forest only denied an equaliser as Trafford superbly saved low down from Wood after the hosts appeared to get away with a foul in the build-up.
The ball was quickly delivered to the other end and Okafor made space only to fire narrowly wide.
Okafor's next involvement was to tee up Ethan Ampadu, but the skipper's shot went wide.
Trafford was called into action to tip over a Nicolas Dominguez shot before Farke put on three subs with Longstaff, Okafor and Tanaka replaced by Anton Stach, Harry Wilson and Brenden Aaronson.
Stach almost made an immediate impact with a shot that went just wide, but the Whites were to double their lead soon after.
Ampadu's long throw caused panic in the home defence and after a flick on from Tarik Muharemovic there was a huge scramble with the ball eventually put over the line by Justin.
Leeds saw out the closing stages well and could have added a third late on when Aaronson and Wilson combined to give fellow sub Dominic Calvert-Lewin a chance, but his shot lacked power and was easily saved.
Nottingham Forest 0
Leeds United 2
(James 50, Justin 75)
Carabao Cup round two
Tuesday, August 26, 2026
Attendance: 24,542
Forest: Sels 7; Diomande 6 (60 Murillo 7), Milenkovic 8, Cunha 6; Aina 6 (60 Netz 6), Dominguez 6, Schlager 5, Williams 5 (79 Hutchinson 6); Jesus 6 (60 Ndoye 6), Wood 6, Kalimuendo 5 (60 Hudson-Odoi 6).
Leeds: Trafford 8; Rodon 8, Elvedi 8, Muharemovic 8; James 9 (71 Bogle 6), Ampadu 7, Tanaka 8 (68 Stach 7), Longstaff 6 (68 Wilson 7), Justin 8; Okafor 7 (68 Aaronson 7), Nmecha 6 (83 Calvert-Lewin).
Referee: Andrew Kitchen 5