FOREST HISTORY · Historic event
Roy double wins Saints thriller
On this day in 1995 Forest win a seven-goal Premier League opener at Southampton.
Nottingham Forest opened the 1995-96 Premier League season with a wild 4-3 win away to Southampton at The Dell.
It was the kind of opening-day match that immediately felt alive. Forest had finished third the previous season and were beginning another campaign with confidence, but Southampton and Matt Le Tissier made the afternoon anything but straightforward.
Colin Cooper scored with a direct free-kick before Le Tissier equalised from the penalty spot. Ian Woan then restored Forest’s lead with a long-range strike, and Bryan Roy scored from an Ian Woan pass to make it 3-1 before half-time.
Le Tissier pulled Southampton back to 3-2 with another penalty, but Roy scored again from another Woan pass to give Forest a 4-2 lead. Le Tissier completed his hat-trick with a direct free-kick, leaving Forest to see out a seven-goal match that never felt fully settled.
Roy’s double gave the result its Forest focus. The Dutch forward had arrived the previous year and quickly became a key attacking figure, and this opening-day performance showed again how dangerous Forest could be when Woan, Roy and the rest of the forward line clicked.
Sources
11v11; StatBunker; London Hearts; Transfermarkt
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