Gibbs-White misses penalty as Yates own goal gives Braga 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest fell to a 1-0 defeat at Braga in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.

Forest registered the first shot on target inside 10 minutes, with goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek parrying Morgan Gibbs-White’s free-kick away.

Chances became few and far between thereafter, with both sides struggling to create moments of quality in the final third.

Braga squandered a chance late in the first half. Taking advantage of Nicolo Savona’s poor defending, Victor Gomez sent a cross towards Gabri Martinez, whose header could not hit the target.

Just after the interval, Martinez was involved again, getting past Savona to find Ricardo Horta with a low cross, but the Braga skipper miscued his shot.

Forest’s first attack of the second half resulted in a penalty following a foul on James McAtee. However, Gibbs-White failed to convert, as Hornicek kept his spot-kick out.

The missed penalty proved costly, as Braga went on to take the lead at the other end, with Ryan Yates diverting a low cross into his own net.

Gibbs-White passed up an opportunity to make amends, running onto McAtee’s pass before blazing his shot over the crossbar.

Forest went close again when Ola Aina’s long-range strike hit the woodwork, before Pau Victor met the same fate at the other end.

Deep into stoppage time, Elliot Anderson was sent off, and will miss Forest’s final league-phase fixture against Ferencvaros next week.

The result leaves Forest 15th in the standings, three points adrift of the last automatic qualification spot for the round of 16.