Forest victorious against Valencia

By NFFC

The Reds rounded off their winter break schedule on Friday evening by facing La Liga giants Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium.

Forest wore an all-red kit in recognition of the kit worn against ours hosts in the Fairs Cup fixture between the sides back in 1961, which was the first occasion a European side visited the Mestalla to compete in an official match.

Steve Cooper named a strong side for the clash against Gennaro Gattuso's outfit, with Joe Worrall captaining the side and Taiwo Awoniyi leading the line alongside Morgan Gibbs-White and Jesse Lingard.

The Reds started brightly and went close inside the opening minute, Lewis O’Brien seeing a left-footed effort from inside area saved after being found by Gibbs-White.

Valencia dominated possession without creating many clear-cut chances inside the opening half hour, with The Reds’ back-line remaining firm and Dean Henderson relatively untroubled in the Forest net.

On 35 minutes, Awoniyi broke forward before sliding the ball to Ryan Yates in the right hand side of the penalty area, and despite a tight angle, he forced a smart save out of Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Two minutes later, Gibbs-White was forced off through injury and replaced by Brennan Johnson.

As half time approached, Forest took the lead. Awoniyi pounced on a loose ball after Lingard pressured the Valencia defence into a mistake, before remaining calm to nip past Mamardashvili and slot the ball home into the empty net.

Samuel Castillejo looked to find a response for the hosts moments before the break, cutting in from the right before seeing his left footed effort well held by Henderson.

Half time: Valencia 0-1 Nottingham Forest

Scott McKenna and Willy Boly replaced Worrall and Cook during the interval, while Valencia's Yunus Musah had the first chance of the second half but couldn’t find the target from inside the penalty area.

Valencia continued their strong start to the second half on 51 minutes as Toni Lato squared the ball for Marcos André who fired over the crossbar when well placed inside the box.

However, just shy of the hour mark, the hosts' pressure paid off. A counter attack finished with Fran Perez squaring for Hugo Duro to slot the ball past Henderson from close range to level the score.

Emmanuel Dennis and Gustavo Scarpa entered the action on the hour mark, replacing Awoniyi and Lingard.

The newly-introduced duo linked up to put Forest back infront, Scarpa playing a first-time flick in-behind the Valencia defence before Dennis robbed possession off Correia and finished cooly past substitute goakeeper Iago to restore The Reds' lead.

Forest went in search for another and created a chance following a lovely exchange between Scarpa, Yates and Johnson but the latter curled a shot narrowly off target.

Loic Badé and Sam Surridge were introduced on 76 minutes, replacing Orel Mangala and Yates.

Johnson raced into the penalty area with eight minutes remaining as The Reds finished strongly but was denied by a smart save.

Three minutes from time, Scarpa sent a curling effort towards the bottom corner but saw his effort tipped behind for a corner by Iago.

Forest saw out four minutes of additional time to claim the victory in Spain, a worthwhile workout for Cooper's side ahead of next Wednesday's return to competitive action away at Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup.

Full time: Valencia 1-2 Nottingham Forest