Nottingham Forest cruised into the Europa League playoffs with a one-sided victory against Ferencvaros, Igor Jesus maintaining his impressive goalscoring form to cap a fine few days for Sean Dyche.
The last time Forest won three successive home games in a European competition, in 1979, it culminated in them lifting their first European Cup under Brian Clough. While there is a long way to go in this competition, these are the kind of nights that foster hope of at least reaching the showpiece in Istanbul in May. James McAtee completed the scoring from the penalty spot to condemn Robbie Keane’s side to a 4-0 defeat.
A week is a long time in this game. Seven days after being booed off by the majority of the Forest supporters who travelled to Braga, Dyche’s side blew away Ferencvaros, ending the Hungarian side’s unbeaten record in this competition and also their hopes of a top-eight berth.
The galling thing for Forest is had they claimed victory in northern Portugal then owing to their margin of victory here and results elsewhere, they would have automatically advanced to the round of 16 themselves. Then again, that way supporters would not have a European adventure to tick off next month, Friday’s draw determining their opponents.
“We want to play at a level that shows our intention in the Europa League, one that hopefully gets you excited about the next round, too,” Dyche had said in his programme notes. “We want to end the league phase in style.”
Half an hour after kick-off at the City Ground, those words felt akin to a premonition given the events that followed. Forest could feasibly have led by three or four goals but had to make do with a two-goal advantage at the interval, with the homegrown captain Ryan Yates, one of five changes from Sunday’s victory against Brentford, influential in both.
Keane insisted his side would play with no fear and it was Ferencvaros who fired the first warning of the game. Dyche was left tapping his temples after Kristoffer Zachariassen headed against the inside of a post from a short-corner routine on six minutes but after seizing the lead, the hosts were in the box seat.
Keane felt Yates crashed into Gabi Kanichowsky in the buildup to the move that culminated in the defender Bence Otvos putting the ball past his own goalkeeper. Yates claimed the ball and, after a give-and-go exchange with McAtee, another one of those changes, he sent a first-time cross across the box. At the back post Otvos instinctively stuck out a leg by way of reaction and sent the ball into the net with his left boot.
From there, Ferencvaros were loose in possession and overwhelmed by Forest’s intensity. Gabor Szalai made a desperate block to prevent a low, placed McAtee strike finding its way into the corner of David Grof’s goal and then Igor Jesus blasted wide.
The visitors, Hungarian champions for the past seven seasons, could not argue they hadn’t been warned. Keane cussed as Yates seized on a heavy touch by the Ferencvaros winger Cadu and Igor Jesus moseyed forward unchallenged. The striker ran at the visiting captain, Ibrahim Cissé, who inadvertently helped the Brazilian’s strike – his fifth in this competition – into the far corner via the faintest of deflections.
Forest could and probably should have been out of sight by half-time. Dan Ndoye sent a shot over the bar and Grof repelled a powerful, billowing McAtee drive.
It was hardly a first-half showing to enhance Keane’s CV. The former Republic of Ireland striker, who went on trial at Forest as a teenager, has established a fine reputation coaching overseas, at Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he won the domestic double, and more recently in Budapest. Keane’s assistant, Stephen Glass, played with Dyche at Watford, while their analyst, Phil Hudson, spent 11 years on the staff at Middlesbrough.
Keane made a change at the break, introducing Lenny Joseph in place of Jonathan Levi, but the second half quickly assumed a similar theme to the first. Igor Jesus sent a header wide and Nicolás Domínguez directed a backward header against the base of a post.
Ferencvaros were again on the ropes but then Forest added a deserved third. Ibrahim Sangaré flipped a pass over the top of the visitors’ back line and Ferencvaros allowed it to bounce on the edge of their 18-yard box. Igor Jesus was alert and, after pouncing on the loose ball, he dispatched a first-time effort into the corner. Murillo, his Brazilian compatriot wearing a substitute’s jacket, entered the pitch to embrace him.
Ferencvaros offered only glimpses of quality, Bamidele Yusuf’s bullet header against the crossbar a case in point but that did not stop Dyche introducing Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina midway through the second half. The suspended Elliot Anderson had the night off altogether. Forest were cruising into the playoffs.
