Nottingham Forest beat Ferencvaros 4-0 in the final game of the Europa League group stage.
The Reds won thanks to an own goal, an Igor Jesus brace and a first Forest goal for the impressive James McAtee.
Who was your STAR MAN vs Ferencvaros?
Forest won 4-0 against the Hungarian outfit.
Sean Dyche’s side knew that last week’s 1-0 defeat in Braga had left his team needing snookers to finish in the top eight, but this was a confident performance to take into the play-off game.
Forest will face either Panathinaikos or Fenerbahce in the next round and on this showing, the team has proved they can be a match for anyone in this competition.
Brian Laws raves about Nottingham Forest star
Laws was on co-commentary duty for BBC Radio Nottingham and he felt there was one player who stood out.
After Jesus had scored his first goal of the night in the 21st minute, he picked out Ryan Yates for praise after his cross had earlier led to an own goal, giving Forest the lead.
Laws said live on air regarding Yates: “It’s a great four minutes and Yates is the instigator again there, he’s been very effective so far.”
Yates was slammed last week for his efforts in Braga when he scored an own goal, but this was a welcome return to form for the club captain.
🔢Score Ryan Yates out of 10 for his performance vs Ferencvaros
The captain earned a start vs the Hungarian outfit
Yates gives Dyche food for thought
As Dyche alluded to after the game, lots of Forest players gave the head coach some big decisions to make ahead of the game against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Yates was one of them, and as the club captain, he will be disappointed not to be playing more in the Premier League this season.
At 28-years-old, Yates will feel that he’s deserving of regular football, and it will be fascinating to see if Dyche agrees when Elliot Anderson is available again at the weekend.
This was a good performance from the skipper, though, and hopefully this will give him a confidence boost when he does next play in the top-flight.
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