Chris Wood the hero as Nottingham Forest beat Aston Villa 1-0 in Europa League semi-final first leg | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest dug deep to beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg at the City Ground on Thursday evening.

The game started with both sides showing attacking threat, but it was Villa who registered the game’s first chance in the ninth minute

With an acre of space ahead of him, Youri Tielemans took a shot from range, but Stefan Ortega was equal to task.

The Forest goalkeeper had to be alert again before the half-hour mark, showing strong hands to keep out Morgan Rogers’ strike.

The hosts nearly got reduced to 10 men following Elliot Anderson’s tackle on Ollie Watkins, but the VAR came to the midfielder’s rescue.

Emi Martinez was called into action for the first time in the 33rd minute, producing a brilliant save to deny Igor Jesus from breaking the deadlock.

Ortega made another superb stop in the 57th minute, showing good reflexes to keep Watkins at bay, keeping Forest level.

Forest were awarded a penalty after Lucas Digne committed a handball. Chris Wood converted the resulting spot-kick, rifling into the top corner.

The Villans almost secured a draw late on when Rogers teed up Tielemans but the Belgian could not keep his effort down, blazing the ball over.

Forest head into next Thursday’s second leg at Villa Park with a slender lead, leaving Unai Emery’s side with work to do.