Nottingham Forest 2-0 Porto: Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus penalties gives Sean Dyche opening win
Sean Dyche earned the perfect start as Nottingham Forest manager as penalties from Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus downed Porto in the Europa League.
The spot-kicks earned Forest their first win since their Premier League opener in August, and Dyche a debut victory following his appointment on Tuesday.
It has been a chaotic opening few months of the season for Forest after Ange Postecoglou was sacked on Saturday, just 39 days after replacing Nuno Espirito Santo.
While it was not instant calm amid the chaos at a boisterous City Ground, Dyche had restored belief and organisation before Gibbs-White scored from the spot on 19 minutes following Jan Bednarek’s handball.
The hosts looked far more comfortable and compact than during Postecoglou’s brief reign and Callum Hudson-Odoi tested goalkeeper Diogo Costa, while Matz Sels also saved Alan Varela’s 25-yard drive.
Jesus added a second from the spot with 13 minutes left, referee Radu Petrescu awarding the penalty after consulting his monitor having initially booked Nicolo Savona for diving under Martim Fernandes’ challenge.
It meant Porto slipped to their first defeat of the season – the visitors had previously won 10 of their opening 11 games – not helped by having Bednarek’s second-half effort ruled out by VAR for offside.
