Forest's winless streak ends as two penalties down Porto, Midtjylland stay perfect

NOTTINGHAM, England :Nottingham Forest handed manager Sean Dyche the perfect debut with a 2-0 home win over Porto in the Europa League on Thursday, with both goals coming from the penalty spot as the hosts ended a run of 10 games without victory.

Danish club Midtjylland, who beat Forest in their last game, continued their perfect run with a 3-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, AS Roma fell to a second successive loss in a 2-1 defeat to Viktoria Plzen and Celtic came from behind to beat Sturm Graz.

Dyche replaced the sacked Ange Postecoglou on Tuesday to become the club's third manager this campaign, and led Forest to their first win since the opening day of the season, along with their first clean sheet since April.

Forest began at a high tempo, and Callum Hudson-Odoi's powerful curling shot was parried away by the keeper, but it was a handball by Jan Bednarek which allowed the hosts to take a 19th minute lead.

Morgan Gibbs-White made no mistake from the spot in the 19th minute and Forest began to sit back, looking to hit Porto on the break.

The visitors had their first shot on target seven minutes before the break when Alan Varela's effort from distance was saved by Matz Sels at full stretch.

Bednarek thought he had made up for giving away the penalty when he found the net shortly after the interval, but the goal was ruled out for offside, as Porto pinned Forest back in their own half for long periods.

A second penalty 13 minutes from time was converted by Igor Jesus to calm the nerves of the home fans, finally able to celebrate for the first time since August.

Forest have four points, having drawn at Real Betis and lost at home to Midtjylland, while Porto remain on six points after their unbeaten run in all competitions this season