Wood penalty hands Forest win over Villa in Europa League semi first leg

Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood smashed a penalty into the top corner to secure a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa in the first leg of their all-English Europa League semi-final on Thursday.

The striker converted in the 71st minute, giving goalkeeper Emi Martinez no chance with a penalty awarded after defender Lucas Digne raised his arms and handled the ball as Forest's Omari Hutchinson tried to scoop it back from the byline.

In a meeting of two clubs chasing an end to trophy droughts stretching back decades, the result sends Vitor Pereira's side to Villa Park for the May 7 second leg with a narrow advantage.

"It's nice to have the advantage, but going to Villa Park, it's going to be a tough game, they're good at their place, but we've done the job here at home and now hopefully we'll build into next week," New Zealand international Wood told TNT Sports.

Braga or Freiburg await the winners in the final in Istanbul on May 20, with the Portuguese side leading the Germans 2-1 from Thursday's home first leg.

Forest's win stretched their unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions as the 1979 and 1980 European champions enjoy some momentum after battling relegation from the Premier League all season, with Pereira their fourth boss since September.

"(Villa) are a very tough team, but we competed with them," Pereira said. "This is a special group of players.

"I have the privilege to be the manager of these boys, they are a fantastic group. Spirit, four managers in a season, and finishing at this level, competing at this level together and united. This is a honour for me."

Both goalkeepers were called into action in the first half. Villa's Morgan Rogers latched onto a ball from Ollie Watkins, but his curling effort was saved by the diving Stefan Ortega.

At the other end, Martinez made a world-class save when he reached back to get an arm around the ball on the goal line to keep out a point-blank shot from Igor Jesus.

Watkins nearly put Villa on the scoreboard early in the second half, but Ortega reacted quickly to block Watkins' first-time shot from close range with an arm.

Villa were crowned European champions in 1982 and are on the brink of securing Champions League qualification via a top-five finish in the Premier League.

The 34-year-old Wood returned from a six-month injury lay-off earlier this month and scored in Forest's 5-0 Premier League thrashing of Sunderland last week that gave the 16th-placed team some breathing space in the relegation battle.

"I wanted to get back fit and firing to help my team as best as I can at the end of the season," he said. "I knew we had a lot to play for when I was fighting to get fit and it's showing. It's some big competitions to be a part of."