This season just keeps getting better for Nottingham Forest. A third successive penalty shootout victory in this season’s FA Cup thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Matz Sels booked a place in the semi-final for the first time since 1991 as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side showed all their fighting spirit that has served them so well in the Premier League since his appointment.
The Forest manager will argue that it was the result they deserved after Peter Bankes awarded a penalty but then VAR suggested he go to the monitor and Bankes cancelled the penalty. But having come closest to winning it during extra time, this was a bitter pill for Fabian Hürzeler and his Brighton side to swallow as they attempted to reach a third semi-final in seven seasons.
Jack Hinshelwood and Diego Gómez both saw their spot-kicks saved by Sels, who was the hero in the two previous rounds against Exeter and Ipswich, before hometown boy Ryan Yates stroked home the decisive penalty to seal a famous triumph.
The captain will miss the semi-final after being shown a late yellow card but still led the celebrations in front of the delighted 4,500 fans who packed out the away end despite problems with local trains. They and Nuno, who has done so much to turn the club’s fortunes around since succeeding Steve Cooper in December 2023, can now start planning for a trip to Wembley next month – not to mention a potential Champions League campaign.
Nuno was criticised by Wayne Rooney – working as a television pundit for the BBC – for deciding not to select in-form wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga from the start. But with a Premier League game to come against Manchester United at the City Ground on Tuesday, when they could take another giant step towards a top-five finish, the former Wolves and Tottenham manager will feel he made the right call as Hudson-Odoi came off the bench to score in the shootout.
Even without their top scorer Chris Wood, who picked up a hip injury helping New Zealand seal their place at next year’s World Cup by beating New Caledonia, Forest managed to create enough chances to have won the game during normal time.
Brighton hadn’t been beaten since their 7-0 thrashing at Forest on 1 February and Hürzeler was right to point out that his side could have wrapped up victory in extra time. “It feels no different,” he admitted when asked to compare the two defeats.
A burst down the right flank from Ola Aina created the first sight of goal for Wood’s replacement, Taiwo Awoniyi, after 16 minutes but Bart Verbruggen did well to save his effort with his legs. Brighton were badly lacking in creativity as Forest managed to nullify the threat posed by their wide players Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh. It took a deflected shot from Yasin Ayari that whistled wide of Sels’s far post to wake up a strangely subdued home crowd given the size of the occasion.
The Forest goalkeeper made a bit of a meal of dealing with a long-range shot from Pervis Estupiñán that bounced awkwardly in front of him but managed to push the ball away to safety. Having clashed here in September during a feisty 2-2 draw when the two managers were sent to the stands, both appeared to be much calmer as Awoniyi failed to get on the end of a low cross from Morgan Gibbs-White. A swerving shot from Carlos Baleba on the stroke of half-time that almost obliterated a camera behind the goal was by far the closest anyone had come to breaking the deadlock.
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Brighton showed their intent at the start of the second half when Georginio Rutter fired just over from a tight angle following a corner as the game finally came alive. Hürzeler could not believe it when Hinshelwood passed up a golden opportunity to open the scoring as he failed to make decent contact with a header from a corner.
That was the signal for Nuno to call on Hudson-Odoi and Elanga from the bench, with the latter replacing Awoniyi through the middle. The game’s big flashpoint occurred almost immediately when Elliot Anderson broke into the area and was brought down by Mitoma’s trailing arm after he slid into a challenge. Bankes initially pointed to the spot but overturned his decision after the VAR suggested he go to the monitor. Nuno was clearly not amused. “We were convinced it was a penalty,” he said.
Both sides seemed scared to make a mistake as the game drifted towards full time, with an injured Adam Webster having to hobble around for eight added minutes because Brighton had run out of substitution windows. But it was the hosts who looked more likely to find a winner in extra time as Sels produced a brilliant save to tip over a goalbound header from Gómez before João Pedro’s late goal was disallowed for offside to ensure this tie went the full distance.
