Dean Henderson produced one of the "big moments" that Steve Cooper wants from his goalkeeper to ensure the club's first home game in 23 years ends in victory.
Henderson couldn't have picked a better time to back up his bold pre-season statement as Manchester United and England watch from the directors' box.
The 25-year-old drew criticism from a lot of ex-players when he revealed former United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had gone back on a pre-season promise to install him.
Less than 24 hours after De Gea's admission he cost United any chance of victory with his mistakes at Brentford, Henderson's second-half penalty save from Declan Rice proved to be as important as Taiwo Awoniyi's first-half goal in securing victory for newly- promoted
Cooper didn't mean to praise one United keeper and highlight the other's deficiencies.
Cooper said that goalkeepers needed to have big moments.
The penalty save was obvious, but his distribution and decision-making were better.
We wanted to play with the ball but we had to be careful in the second half and Dean was good with his positioning.
As he did last week, he did well. Next week he needs to do well.
There are other Forest newcomers with a reason to prove this season.
Awoniyi joined the Reds as an 18-year-old and played six seasons for the club.
The Nigerian had seven different loan moves before he was sold permanently to Union Berlin.
Forest spent a club record 17 million dollars on Awoniyi in June, after he scored 15 goals in 31 games.
While his match-winner against West Ham was somewhat lucky as Jesse Lingard's pass bounced into him, the goal was a reward for his hard work.
Awoniyi said it was a dream to score for the team.
Cooper thinks the man deserves a lot of praise and hopes he gets a few headlines. He was a real force in the first half.
We were able to play as far up the pitch because of him. Being the player he will be, will be aided by scoring.
The signing of Atalanta's Swiss international Remo Freuler was one of the 15 new players Forest brought in.
Confirmation that Dennis and Kouyate had joined the club followed.
Cooper said that the club are not done yet.
He said that they had no choice. It wasn't going to happen to carry on with the squad from last year.
With a couple of weeks left in the window, there will be some ins and outs.
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