MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE needed just seven minutes to throw Wolves fans’ taunts back in their faces.
The Nottingham Forest skipper led the way as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side recorded a sixth Premier League win to move joint second in the table with Arsenal.
Chris Wood grabbed his 12th goal of the season to keep Wolves at bay before the break as the Nuno Espirito Santo bandwagon rolled on.
Gibbs-White came through the ranks at Wolves before making a move – worth more than £25million – to Forest two and a half years ago.
That did not go down well with the Molineux faithful – and they have let him know about it ever since.
Supporters booed Gibbs-White from the start – before launching into an unsavoury chant about his girlfriend.
The Forest attacker needed no second invitation to deliver the perfect response.
He set off on a run from inside his own half and went unchallenged before feeding Anthony Elanga on the right.
Elanga found Gibbs-White again and he converted for a goal of pure simplicity.
Gibbs-White milked the moment as he brought out the standard celebration for Wolves fans – a finger in each ear.
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There may have fond memories of Nuno’s successful four years at Molineux – but his welcome is surely starting to wear thin with supporters.
This was the third time he had returned since leaving the club in 2021 – and a third win.
He added to the two league and cup wins he recorded here with Tottenham to sink his former team.
Nuno says nobody has yet asked him if Forest are title contenders.
The likes of Chelsea and Arsenal are immediately seen as potential challengers to Liverpool when they move into second spot.
But Forest are going under the radar – and that is the way Nuno likes it.
This was the first time Forest had put together six top-flight wins in 58 years.
And a return to Europe is there for them on this form.
But the Portuguese coach is not entertaining that sort of talk about a club that spent the last two seasons avoiding relegation.
Wolves were without the suspended Matheus Cunha – and boss Vitor Pereira made five changes after staying unbeaten in his first three games.
But while this was his first defeat since taking over from Gary O’Neil, he will see positives in attack if not in defence.
There is set to be one new face at the club this week with Wolves agreeing a £16.6m fee with Reims for Ivory Coast centre back Emmanuel Agbadou who is expected to fly in to complete the move to Molineux.
Wolves responded well to Gibbs-White’s goal and went close twice in the space of a minute.
Murillo cleared off the line from Jorgen Strand Larsen’s close-range effort – before Forest keeper Matz Sels superbly kept out Rodrigo Gomes’ fierce drive.
Larsen was denied again after 29 minutes when Sels blocked his header from Gomes’ cross.
At this stage, in-form Belgium keeper Sels was the man stopping Wolves from fighting their way back into the game.
But Pereira’s men had a lucky escape when Rayan Ait-Nouri looked to have handled a cross from Ola Aina and given away a penalty.
The decision went to VAR and was judged not worth pointing to the spot.
But Forest extended their lead a minute before the break as Wood scored his second goal in consecutive games – and again, Wolves were exposed at the back.
Sels’ long clearance found Callum Hudson-Odoi on the left and he outpaced Wolves defender Matt Doherty before finding Wood who rolled the ball home.
It carried on the Kiwi’s record of scoring for three different clubs – Burnley, Newcastle and Forest – against Wolves.
Larsen still looked a threat and he produced another fine save from Sels.
But Forest’s second half display was all about stifling any hopes Wolves had of making a comeback.
Nuno’s men stayed in command after the break – even though it was not spectacular.
Wolves will rue the chances they had to level the scores – and maybe take it further.
But they found Sels in top form – and Nuno was even waving to the travelling Forest fans before Awoniyi’s late goal.
