Oliver Glasner's reign at Nottingham Forest began with a late defeat at the hands of visiting Leeds United in their Premier League opener.

The Austrian became Forest's fifth manager in less than a year after replacing Vitor Pereira, who was sacked last month despite steering the club away from relegation danger.

Glasner and Forest, however, suffered a late blow as Anton Stach struck the Leeds winner straight from a free-kick with two minutes left on the clock.

It was an evenly contested game at the City Ground, where most of the opportunities for both sides came via set-pieces.

As the half-hour mark approached, Harry Wilson almost made his Leeds debut one to remember as he arrived in the box to side-foot Jayden Bogle's low delivery into the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

However, it was the home side who finished the first half strongly with centre-back Jair Cunha heading against the post after a scramble inside the Leeds box.

Igor Jesus also headed wide after attacking a cross from Ola Aina 10 minutes after the restart, while a powerful Tarik Muharemovic header in the 70th minute was the first time Leeds really made Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels work.

However, Leeds finally found a way through in the closing stages as Stach earned a foul from Nikola Milenkovic and beat Sels at the near post to help the visitors make a winning start.

The two sides will meet again at the same venue on Tuesday, 25 August (20:00 BST) in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

After running through four managers last season, Forest will hope for the turbulence to be finally behind them.

They have turned to former Crystal Palace boss Glasner to bring more stability and better results, after Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Pereira were all sacked at various stages of the 2025-26 campaign.

However, this opening defeat suggests there is still plenty of work ahead to get there.

Club owner Evangelos Marinakis termed Glasner "a winner" while announcing him as the new manager in the summer.

The pressure will be on the Austrian, who won the FA Cup, Conference League and Community Shield with the Eagles, to make immediate improvements to a side that finished 16th last campaign.

Forest lined up in Glasner's preferred back-three set-up on Saturday with Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Jair Cunha making up their backline.

Ivory Coast defender Ousmane Diomande was denied a Forest debut by Stach's late winner but he will be expected to solidify Glasner's defence this season.

In midfield too, experienced Austria international Xaver Schlager featured for just the final 16 minutes with Ibrahim Sangare and James McAtee partnering to fill the hole left by Elliot Anderson, who joined Manchester City.

Forest will be expected to strengthen further before the transfer deadline passes but Glasner will know there will be little patience if results do not improve.

Farke called for more backing after Leeds finished eight points clear of the bottom three last season.

The club responded with an £80m investment to sign goalkeeper Trafford, winger Wilson and Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Muharemovic.

All three were in the starting line-up at the City Ground, with Trafford proving why Leeds spent a record fee for a British goalkeeper on him as he produced a fine diving save to deny Igor Jesus only 17 minutes in.

Wilson, who scored 10 goals and provided seven assists for Fulham last season, also was lively but would have been disappointed after latching on to the low delivery from Bogle, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin in an onside position behind him.

However, it was Stach who turned what would have been a satisfactory draw into three points with his moment of brilliance.

One of the best in the league when it comes to set-pieces, the German curled his effort over the Forest defensive wall and just beyond the outstretched hands of Sels in the 88th minute.

Stach has scored five goals from outside the penalty area since the start of last season - more than any other player - while no player has more goals from direct free-kicks during that time than his four.

The winning start could offer Leeds more encouragement to aim even higher this season.