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Leeds struggled for long periods of the match and could have fallen behind to two headed chances either side of half time, only for Nikola Milenkovic to be denied by the post before Igor Jesus failed to find the target from close range.

Tarik Muharemovic forced Matz Sels into an important save in the 70th minute before Stach produced a moment of magic with a free-kick from just outside the left corner of the box, leaving Oliver Glasner to rue a defeat in his first game in charge of Forest.

The hosts were more dangerous in the first half and were denied an opener when Igor Jesus's header was clawed out of the bottom-right corner by James Trafford with 17 minutes played.

One minute later, referee Robert Jones showed Ola Aina a yellow card after his lunge on James Justin, with the video assistant referee (VAR) determining that no further action was required, much to the frustration of the Leeds bench.

Harry Wilson had a goal ruled out for scoring from an offside position when he could have left it for the onside Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but only the woodwork stopped Leeds from going into the break behind to Milenkovic's header.

Igor Jesus failed to steer his back-post chance on target in the 55th minute and Leeds started to grow in confidence, with Sels having to spring brilliantly to his left to keep Muharemovic's header out with 20 minutes remaining.

Forest was unable to hang on until the final whistle, though, as Stach placed his free-kick into the bottom-left corner with too much power for Sels to keep it out despite getting the goalkeeper getting a hand to the ball.

Morgan Gibbs-White had a chance to salvage a point with a 20-yard free-kick from a central position in stoppage-time, but he was unable to find the target.

Leeds has now won its opening Premier League game for the third successive campaign, marking its joint-longest run in the top-flight.

"It's still a long road,” Leeds manager Daniel Farke said. "We need to collect 40 points, we are not naive.

"The last time this club was able to have two solid seasons at this level, you will perhaps find it in black and white photos.

"But I’m very happy with the result. Especially an away win at a very difficult ground and a tight game. A clean sheet too.

"It was a game of different periods, we started on front foot. Both teams had situations where they put pressure on the opponent.

"But we won this game because we defended well. It could have gone the other way, but I'm happy we can convert our pre-season form into the season."

Glasner, meanwhile, began his tenure as Forest head coach with a defeat, extending the Tricky Trees’ poor record in season openers.

Forest has now lost the opening match of a league season in six of its pasr eight campaigns, while it has only won one of its past 12 home league matches.

"Everybody gave their best," Glasner said. "The players worked very hard, intense and wanted to get the win.

"We're learning from this defeat. We're at the beginning of this journey and not burying our heads in the sand.

"Unfortunately, we lost, but I saw many encouraging things today. This is the way we decided to go, this is the way we continue to go."