Dyche's revived Forest fly high against Utrecht

Phoenix-like rise of Nottingham Forest!

In the two opening UEFA Europa League rounds, the Trees won only a single point under Ange Postecoglou. And then, in the following four games - three wins and a draw. The players are the same, but one name is different - Sean Dyche is in the dugouts.

Tonight, Forest thoroughly deservedly brushed aside Utrecht 2-1 and climbed to the eighth UEL spot - at least for a couple of hours. Their heroes in the Netherlands were Arnaud Kalimuendo and Igor Jesus, who scored a late winner, while the only thing the home team managed to do was their captain, Mike van der Hoorn's leveller.

Sean Dyche's teams haven't been known for dominance on the pitch - his crews were mainly physical - but tonight in the Netherlands, Nottingham Forest demonstrated some power, especially during the opening half in which they made ten attempts (five on target), and still failed to score.

Chances were coming one after another, over Callum Hudson-Odoi, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Morato, Douglas Luiz, and Dan Ndoye, but none of them hit the mark.

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On the other hand, Utrecht threatened only once in the 24th minute, from their only attempt on target, when Miguel Rodriguez shot from a distance, but the Premier League side's keeper, Jhon Victor, reacted well.

Either way, the nets remained intact during the first 45 minutes.

However, even though the visitors were extremely unlucky before the break, just seven minutes after it, they broke the deadlock over Arnaud Kalimuendo, as one ball "sneaked" into Utrecht's net. Eight minutes later, the Frenchman was close to completing a brace, but the post stopped his close-range effort.

And then Nottingham started turning into a usual Dyche's team, focusing more on defending the lead, and the punishment came in the 73rd minute, practically out of nowhere! A long-range free kick, a cross into the Trees' box, and a leveller, scored by Utrecht captain Mike van der Hoorn, who managed to find the net with a header from the far post.

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The equalizer was a huge confidence boost for the Dutch side, which seriously pressed the rivals with a couple of consecutive corner kicks, but Forest fended off the attacks.

Yet, once the Premier League side returned to the offensive mode, it scored the winner. Igor Jesus was Dyche's golden sub, as the Brazilian managed to put a rebound into the home team's net just a minute after coming off the bench, and brought an immensely important triumph to the Trees.

UEFA - EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6

Dinamo Zagreb - Real Betis 1-3 (0-3)

/Galesic 89 - Dominguez 31 og, Riquelme 34, Antony 38/

Ferencvaros - Rangers 2-1 (1-1)

/Varga 72, Otvos 45+5 - Miovski 27/

Ludogorets - PAOK 3-3 (1-1)

/Stanic 33, Verdon 71, Chochev 77 - Despodov 39, Vogliacco 48, Mythou 90/

Midtjylland - Genk 1-0 (1-0)

/Cho 17/

Nice - Braga 0-1 (0-1)

/Victor 28/

Sturm - Crvena Zvezda 0-1 (0-0)

/Ivanic 55/

Stuttgart - Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-1 (2-0)

/Assignon 24, Tomas 37, Mittelstadt 50 pen, Vagnoman 90+4 - Revivo 52/

Utrecht - Nottingham Forest 1-2 (0-0)

/Van der Hoorn 73 - Kalimuendo 52, Jesus 88/

Young Boys - Lille 1-0 (0-0)

/Males 61/

23.00: (4.30) Basel (4.20) Aston Villa (1.73)

23.00: (3.40) Brann (3.45) Fenerbahce (2.25)

23.00: (2.35) Celta (3.45) Bologna (3.20)

23.00: (3.30) Celtic (3.45) Roma (2.30)

23.00: (5.20) FCSB (4.35) Feyenoord (1.60)

23.00: (1.50) Freiburg (4.80) Salzburg (6.50)

23.00: (1.25) Olympique Lyon (6.75) Go Ahead (13.0)

23.00: (1.93) Panathinaikos (3.45) Plzen (4.10)

23.00: (1.20) Porto (7.75) Malmo (16.0)

***odds are subject to change***