Nottingham Forest booked their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup this evening, defeating Bradford City 2-1 at the City Ground.

Looking to respond to Sunday's Championship opening day defeat to Coventry City, a different looking Forest side returned to winning ways courtesy of Joao Carvalho's brace, on a night where plenty of homegrown youngsters starred.

A flurry of changes also saw Ethan Horvath come in to make his first start since arriving from Club Brugge, replacing Brice Samba in-between the sticks. The American was called into action early on, keeping out Andy Cook's header before having his palms stung by a long-range effort.

But Forest began to start shifting through the gears on 20 minutes. Alex Mighten showed tricky footwork to work his way to the byline and pull the back for full debutant Philip Zinckernagel, who had his effort blocked at close-range.

Forest continued to improve soon after. A flowing team move resulted in Fin Back finding Mighten with a low cross, but it was the winger's turn to be left frustrated by a last-ditch block.

But on 39 minutes, Forest found their breakthrough as the complexion of the tie began to change.

Tyrese Fornah - always eager to receive the ball in a deep-lying role and progress the ball forward, picked out Back in space on the right, with the young full-back playing a perfectly-weighted ball down the line for Zinckernagel to chase. Zinckernagel swept the ball back across goal, and there was Joao Carvalho to tap home to give Chris Hughton's side a deserved lead.

The City Ground had only just finished singing their club-record signing's name, before two minutes later, the same pair combined for Forest's goal.

Zinckernagel, cutting inside from the right, lifted a delicious ball towards the back post for Carvalho to bring down, before coolly slotting into the bottom corner on the angle. 2-0 to Forest, with two goals in three minutes for Carvalho and two assists for their new signing.

The half-time whistle blew, not before Horvath was kept on his toes with Andy Cook's effort being kept out, and not before Abo Eisa should have grabbed a goal back for the visitors, only to drag his effort wide from 10 yards.

Forest fans left fairly satisfied with their youthful-looking side's display, but they were given another warning sign shortly into the second half.

Lee Angol was sent through one-on-one, but there was Horvath, who stayed strong and denied the striker from pulling a goal back for the Bantams.

Down the other end, Jayden Richardson's marauding run forward culminated in a fierce effort hitting the side-netting. Chris Hughton then introduced his first change of the evening on 50 minutes, with the dangerous Zinckernagel being replaced by Nuno da Costa.

But on 55 minutes, it was City who did find that goal to reduce the deficit. Having been awarded a free-kick 20 yards from goal, Callum Cooke lifted the ball over the wall and into the bottom corner, leaving Horvath with very little chance of keeping out.

City may well have had a penalty shout on 65 minutes, too. Angol was sent racing through on goal with Baba Fernandes matching him for pace. The striker went down under the defender's challenge, but referee Peter Wright waved play on.

Fernandes was left hurt after the aforementioned incident, and with Riley Harbottle also hobbling off with an injury, Hughton was forced into changing both of his central defenders, with Tobias Figueiredo and Ryan Yates coming on. Tyrese Fornah and Cafu were also to receive treatment shortly after, but a few nervy minutes resulted in the pair continuing.

Carvalho was given the chance to grab his hat-trick in the 78th minute, after Richardson's low effort deflected into his path, but Richard O'Donnell was out well to deny him from close-range.

Nine minutes were to be added on at the end of an entertaining contest, with Mighten firing straight at O'Donnell as the hosts looked to kill the game off.

But for all their late spell of possession, City were unable to find that late leveller, and Forest held on to book their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.