Nottingham Forest suffer more Midtjylland woe with latest chastening defeat | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest suffered another Europa League defeat to FC Midtjylland after Cho Gue-sung’s late header earned the Danish side a 1-0 win at the City Ground in the last-16 first leg.

Forest were aiming to avenge their previous loss to Midtjylland, who came to Nottingham back in October and won 3-2, but were unable to stop history from repeating itself to leave the Reds trailing heading into the return fixture next week.

The home side could not find a way past goalkeeper Elias Rafn Olafsson, who made a string of saves to keep it goalless at the break.

Severe weather conditions in the second half then became an obstacle that both sides had to play through but Midtjylland continued to frustrate the Premier League side, who accumulated 22 shots through the game.

Attacks for the Danish visitors were few and far between but they still posed a threat, and the woodwork came to Forest’s rescue before Cho headed beyond keeper Matz Sels for the all-important winner.

Forest’s last defeat to Midtjylland came under former boss Ange Postecoglou but the recent appointment of Vitor Pereira was unable to stop the same outcome from happening.

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Cho Gue-sung (left) gave Midtjylland a narrow advantage over Forest (PA Wire)

The result stretched Forest’s winless run to five games in all competitions as they switch their attention back to their Premier League relegation fight on Sunday with a match against Fulham before trying to change their European fortunes next Thursday in Denmark.

Both sides took a measured approach to the two-legged tie and it took until the 20th minute for the hosts to force the first proper opening of the contest, when Omari Hutchinson took it upon himself to have a crack from outside the area which was tipped over the bar by Olafsson.

Igor Jesus then dispossessed Philip Billing to put Forest on the front foot and Nicolas Dominguez laid it back off to the Brazilian, who curled the wrong side of the post.

Forest started to up the ante as the opposition sat deeper and Ola Aina was next to line one up from distance as Olafsson parried it into the path of Jesus, who put wide from the rebound.

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Conditions became horrendous during the second half (Jacob King/PA Wire)

Hutchinson was proving to be a menace down the right and looked the obvious threat for the home side. He once again got the better of Victor Bak Jensen but his goalbound effort was blocked behind by Mads Bech.

Olafsson was becoming busier as the night went on and Elliot Anderson tried to put Forest in front in spectacular style – his strike from 20 yards was heading into the top left corner before Olafsson tipped over again.

Forest started the second half the brighter of the two teams but heavy rain began to lash down, taking its toll on the pitch and the fluidity out of Forest’s attack.

Midtjylland did not offer much in attack but Sels needed to be alert to scramble across and bat Valdemar Andreasen’s effort wide of the post before he hit the crossbar moments later.

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FC Midtjylland celebrated another famous success (Jacob King/PA Wire)

The hosts continued to push for the elusive opener but still could not find a way past Olafsson, who stopped an Igor Jesus header before Anderson fired straight at him.

However, the City Ground fell silent as Midtjylland stunned the hosts by breaking the deadlock in the 80th minute.

Ousmane Diao sent in a teasing cross and Cho got the run on Aina to head beyond a scrambling Sels and give the visitors a lead that Forest could not recover from.