Nottingham Forest 1-0 Leeds United: Brennan Johnson strike raises pressure on Jesse Marsch
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Brennan Johnson struck the winner with his fifth Premier League goal of the season
Steve Cooper says his Nottingham Forest side are "building an identity" after Brennan Johnson's goal gave them victory over Leeds.
Forest were second-best throughout the first half, but Johnson's thumping 14th-minute strike was enough to move them six points clear of the relegation places.
After Leeds failed to clear a free-kick on the right, the ball bounced up for the Wales forward to rifle it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
"I was disappointed with our football today. We're thinking about how we get better," Cooper told Sky Sports.
"We're building an identity, we're building a team. We've been doing that from the summer so... step by step."
The hosts were indebted to debutant goalkeeper Keylor Navas, on loan from Paris St-Germain, who made important first-half saves from Wilfried Gnonto, Luke Ayling and Luis Sinisterra, who put Leeds' best chance of the game over the bar from six yards out.
Leeds' threat all but vanished in the second period and Forest comfortably held on for a third victory in five Premier League games, moving up to the 13th in the table.
"The first half for us was just about the individual moments of Keylor's saves and Brennan's finish," Cooper told BBC Match of the Day.
"We're obviously really happy with the win. I'm not really happy with the performance and that's my job to look into that. I don't think it would be elite enough just to think about the win. So there's work to do but we know that."
Jesse Marsch's Leeds, meanwhile, have gone seven league games without a win and stay 17th, above the relegation zone only on goal difference.
Navas shows his class on Premier League debut
Of Forest's 29 signings since the start of last summer, Navas - a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid - was perhaps the biggest name.
He quickly showed why he is so highly rated, racing off his line and getting down sharply to deny Sinisterra inside the first two minutes.
Forest struggled to getting going at all in the first half with ventures into the Leeds half few and far between, and while the visitors by no means laid siege to Navas' goal, the Costa Rican was there to make a number of crucial interventions when called upon.
Ayling and Gnonto had goalbound efforts repelled with the former also seeing his header back across goal clawed away by Navas ahead of the waiting Patrick Bamford.
Keylor Navas made a number of important saves on his Nottingham Forest debut
With Cooper's side much improved after the break, Navas had a much quieter 45 minutes - but had already proved his worth.
"Everyone knows what he's done in the game and how experienced he is, but he still wanted to show who he is today," Cooper added.
"We've had a great few days with him. He's showed fantastic humility - he's really trying to buy in to how we play and the surroundings of the club so I've only got positive things to say at the moment.
"We're delighted in the dressing room and he's quite composed in the corner thinking: 'I've done that before.'"
A reliable goalscorer is often touted as crucial in a relegation scrap - Johnson is beginning to step up to that role - but a goalkeeper to bail you out when you're not at your best is priceless.
Even at 36, Navas looks perfectly equipped to be that man for Forest.
Leeds rue missed chances - again - before fading
Another dispiriting result leaves Leeds without a Premier League since 5 November.
Even taking into account the break for the World Cup, it is a statistic that makes for grim reading for their supporters.
Given the way Marsch's side started at the City Ground, it could so easily have been the day they snapped that winless streak.
They were bright, popping the ball around quickly and creating openings with the impressive Gnonto central to their threat.
However, they were let down by an all-too-familiar failing as a number of presentable chances were passed up.
Gnonto squared for Sinisterra, who leaned back and blazed his shot over the bar. The Italian winger then cut the ball back for Bamford, who fluffed the shot; Ayling kept it alive but put his shot too close to the goalkeeper.
Then Gnonto himself had a chance, pouncing on an error by Neco Williams, but his near-post effort was pushed away.
As well as Navas played, more than once Leeds really should not have given him a chance.
"We are struggling to turn performances into results and we've been in this place for a while," Marsch told BBC Sport.
"It's hard for me to accept and it's frustrating. And I've got to find ways to change that feeling and find ways to get the results we think we deserve.
"In general we are struggling to get the results we feel like we deserve.
"The work and commitment on the inside has been good but from a result perspective it puts stress on the environment. I have to take responsibility on that and I do."
Perhaps even more worrying for Leeds was a second half in which they not only failed to create any clear chances but rarely even got themselves in a position to do so.
Marsch was backed in the transfer window and with pressure on him building, he must hope his new recruits - one of whom, Weston McKennie, made his debut off the bench - can help change his side's fortunes quickly.
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