Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa: Chris Wood penalty gives Forest advantage in UEFA Europa League semi-final | OneFootball

Chris Wood netted his 200th career goal at a crucial time for Nottingham Forest, his strike from the penalty spot on the 71st minute proved to be the deciding moment between the two sides, ahead of the second-leg at Villa Park.

As it happened

Morgan Rogers had a shot saved by Stefan Ortega around the half an hour mark following a fast break led by Ollie Watkins. Frantic clearances and misplaced passes from the home side set the precedent for an energetic few minutes that saw Emi Martínez stop an almost certain Igor Jesus goal with a stunning one-handed reflex save.

Either side continued to cancel one another out in the fixture however, in the 56th minute a deflected shot from Rogers was reactively poked on by Watkins, somehow, the effort was palmed away by Ortega. Both goalkeeper’s had proved their reliability when they were tested – signalling how even the game was.

Moments later, Omari Hutchinson’s determination to keep a Forest attack alive was rewarded in abundance, his stretch to keep the ball in play hit the ball against the hand of Lucas Digne.

A VAR review – that took a few minutes of ruminating – concluded that this was worthy of a penalty. Wood tucked the penalty away to give the home side the advantage in the semi-final first-leg – the club’s first since 1984.

Confidence was high amongst the Forest side when Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson exchanged a passage of passes and flicks that were well received by the home crowd as ‘Olé’ echoed around The City Ground after every pass between the two players.

With seconds left to play, Jadon Sancho cut inside from the left-hand side but his curled effort was collected, calmly, by Ortega and that brought the game to a close. The Reds will take their crucial advantage to Villa Park next Thursday.

In the meantime, Aston Villa will return to the Premier League play Tottenham Hotspur in the West Midlands on Sunday at 7pm. Whereas Vitor Pereira’s side face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday at 3pm – UK time.