Chris Wood ‘s second-half penalty gave Nottingham Forest the advantage in their all-English Europa League semifinal with Aston Villa.
The New Zealand striker emphatically converted from 12 yards to put Forest just 90 minutes away from a first European final in 46 years as they took a 1-0 first-leg lead.
But they will know there is still work to do if they want to try and follow in the footsteps of Brian Clough’s side which won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980.
Vitor Pereira has some way to go before reaching Clough’s status, but he has masterminded a stark turnaround of Forest’s fortunes as they are now nine games unbeaten in all competitions.
It will be a tough task to defend the slender lead in next week’s second leg and Villa are by no means out of the tie.
A nine-game Europa League winning run came to an end at the City Ground, but nobody knows their way around a Europa League semifinal quite like Unai Emery and a fifth title for the Spaniard is not out of his reach just yet, with Villa notoriously strong at Villa Park.
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Villa were assured in early possession and fashioned the first chance of the match in the ninth minute, when Youri Tielemans fired a 20-yard effort that Stefan Ortega palmed away.
The German goalkeeper was again called into action just before the half-hour mark as he clawed away Morgan Rogers’ effort from a quick counter-attack.
Forest had grown into the game and were almost in front, only for a miraculous stop from Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the 33rd minute.
The net was about to bulge after Igor Jesus had made good contact from Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross after Elliot Anderson’s clever pass had played him in, but the Argentinian somehow managed to stick a hand out and then had the presence of mind to scoop the ball into his grasp before it went over the line.
It was Ortega’s turn to make a big save 10 minutes after the restart as he kept it level.
Rogers’ shot took a deflection and went to Ollie Watkins, who stuck out a foot and his effort went straight to the Forest goalkeeper who made an instinctive stop.
The decisive moment of the game came with 20 minutes left as Forest were awarded a penalty.
Gibbs-White’s cross floated through to the far post and appeared to be out of play when Omari Hutchinson hooked it back into the outstretched arms of Villa defender Lucas Digne.
After a lengthy check Portuguese VAR Tiago Martins ruled the ball had not gone out and sent his compatriot Joao Pinheiro to the pitchside monitor.
The decision was a formality and Wood dispatched the spot-kick in commanding style, lashing past Martínez.
Forest seemed content to hold on to their lead, while Villa were not exactly throwing bodies forward in search of a leveller.
Their big chance came in the 90th minute when a quick breakaway saw Tielemans close in on goal, but he uncharacteristically fired over.
