While there remains question marks over some of the other summer additions, Jesus is far and away the most impressive of the lot.

“Igor has come on and looked sharp, he stays alive and his finish was absolutely superb,” said Dyche.

“It’s a really good win for us and I think it would have been harsh if we’d not won with our performance.

“I stepped into European competition when it was a tricky time but the squad mentality is really good.

“We’re going to the next phase after Christmas and now it’s about getting on with the Premier League and we know we’re still got a lot of work to do in them.”

This was Forest’s first away victory in Europe for 11,013 days since a win over Auxerre in October 1995. The goal on that night was scored by Steve Stone, who is now part of Dyche’s coaching team.

Forest’s return to Europe, after a wait of nearly 30 years, has felt like a trip down memory lane.

In their last match they faced Swedish club Malmo, the club Brian Clough’s miracle men defeated in the 1979 European Cup final.

There has been a trip to Sturm Graz, the team they beat over two legs in the 1984 Uefa Cup quarter-final. There was also some history in the Netherlands city of Utrecht, after Forest played a pre-season friendly here in 1983 in return for signing goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen the previous year.

Utrecht have picked up only one point so far, and this was a game Forest really needed to win in order to progress.

They did have a number of first-half chances but Utrecht responded in front of their noisy fans. Forest required goalkeeper John Victor to produce an excellent diving save to prevent Miguel Rodríguez late in the first-half.

Dyche’s changes at half-time, with the introduction of Elliot Anderson and Ibrahim Sangaré, gave his team more impetus and they took a 52nd-minute lead.

Arnaud Kalimuendo, a £26m signing from Rennes, capitalised on a fortuitous deflection to advance into the area and fire his shot across Vasilis Barkas.