The Future Falcons suffered a defeat against Nottingham Forest by a scoreline of three goals to two in the Group C match of Al Abtal Cup.
The Future Falcons got off on the front foot, and despite creating several opportunities from open play and looking dangerous from set pieces, they were unable to capitalise on their pressure by opening the scoring. Thamer Almousa came close to scoring the opening goal in the 28th minute with a beautiful header from a cross by Anas Alahmadi, but goalkeeper Cooper managed to save it. Thamer Almousa had another chance four minutes later with a long shot going narrowly wide.
Against the run of play, Nottingham Forest striker Connor Brown managed to make the most of a defensive error from the Saudi team to open the scoring for his team at the end of the first half, which ended with a one-nil lead to the English team.
The second half started in a similar vein to the first 45 minutes, with pressure being applied by the Future Falcons. Then, in the 51st minute, their good work finally got the reward that their performance had richly deserved thanks to a pinpoint Thamer Almousa free-kick flew into the far top corner of Cooper’s goal, equalising the score. The Future Falcons struck again in the 57th minute, as Ziyad Alghamdi found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper Cooper and his low finish took a slight deflection and slipped under the Forest keeper and went into the back of the net, shaking up the Nottingham Forest defence with the Falcons’ ability to play off the shoulder of the last man.
Alas, Nottingham Forest wasted no time in responding, as in the 62nd minute, striker Connor Brown dribbled past the Future Falcons’ defenders and calmly placed the ball into the net, meaning the score was level once again. Minutes late, Connor Brown popped up again in the 71st minute, pouncing on a cross from Anisjko to calmly slot the ball into the empty net, scoring his and his team’s third goal. Despite their relentless efforts in the remaining minutes, the Saudi team couldn’t level the score, and the match ended with Nottingham Forest winning three goals to two.
