Forest found themselves on the end of a narrow 1-0 defeat to Valencia in their second pre-season friendly on Tuesday, despite a positive opening 45 minutes against the La Liga side.
Head Coach Steve Cooper made plenty of changes to the side which beat Notts County as Forest prepared for their first of two friendlies during their week’s training camp in Spain.
George Shelvey started in-between the sticks, with a back three of Willy Boly, Joe Worrall and Scott McKenna ahead of the shot-stopper.
Neco Williams and Moussa Niakhaté occupied the wing-back roles, with a midfield duo of Orel Mangala and Remo Freuler sitting behind a advanced three of Ryan Yates, Danilo and Hwang Ui-jo.
Valencia were first to come close to breaking the deadlock as Diego López’s cross found Jesús Vázquez who shot off target from close range.
But Forest responded well and soon grew into the encounter, with Freuler’s curling effort having to be parried away by Jaume Doménech in the Valencia goal.
Seeing plenty of the ball and making plenty of positive moves, Williams was next to force Doménech into another fine save as he drove forward and saw a right-footed effort tipped behind for a corner.
In the closing stages of the opening 45 minutes though, Forest were forced into a change. Niakhaté, who rose to compete with Dimitri Foulquier in the air, landed awkwardly on his left arm and was immediately replaced by Josh Powell.
HALF-TIME: Valencia 0-0 Forest
Two minutes into the second half, Valencia, who made a flurry of changes at the break, took the lead through substitute Javi Guerra firing low into the bottom left corner.
The hosts came close again five minutes later as Thierry Correia’s cross was glanced wide by Hugo Duro.
From a similar position, Martín Tejón came close five minutes later, mistiming his effort following Hugo González’s cross.
Cooper began to freshen things up and make his first changes on the hour mark, with Mohamed Dräger and Cheikhou Kouyaté replacing Mangala and Boly, before McKenna made way for Aaron Donnelly.
Few and far chances were on show for either team in the closing stages, with Donnelly volleying just over from the edge of the area in the closing stages of the second half.
After a blisteringly hot evening in Valencia, Forest’s second pre-season friendly ended in defeat.
FULL-TIME: Valencia 1-0 Forest