Forest Beats Exeter on penalties to reach FA Cup Fifth Round
Source:Â http://www.richportaltv.com
A significant shift In the FA Cup’s fourth round, Nottingham Forest defeated Exeter City, a 10-man team, on penalties.
After extra time, the two teams were tied at 2-2, but Forest defeated the League One team 4-2 on penalty kicks.
Neco Williams converted the game-winning penalty for the visitors after Angus MacDonald struck the bar for the home team and Reece Cole’s attempt was saved.
It means Forest, who made 10 changes to their team, avoided becoming the second Premier League side to be knocked out by a Devon club in the fourth round after Plymouth Argyle stunned Liverpool on Sunday.
It meant the end of an FA Cup dream for a gutsy Exeter outfit that had defended superbly, especially after debutant Ed Turns was sent off for an 87th-minute foul on substitute Morgan Gibbs-White.
Forest will host fellow Premier League side Ipswich Town in the fifth round at the start of next month.
Only Danilo survived from the Forest team that thrashed Brighton and Hove Albion 7-0 last week, while Exeter made five changes as defenders MacDonald and Turns made their debuts after last week’s 4-1 loss at Stevenage.
After just five minutes, Exeter took Forest by surprise as goalie Carlos Miguel misdirected Demetri Mitchell’s curling attempt into Josh Magennis’s path, allowing Magennis to score the first goal from close range.
Before Ramon Sosa tied the score with a cool finish after Ibrahim Sangare’s weighted pass, Forest quickly found their rhythm as Taiwo Awoniyi came close twice, the second requiring a deft goalline clearance from Vincent Harper.
As Turns and MacDonald tried to stop the Nigerian striker, Awoniyi turned brilliantly on the edge of the box and fired into the bottom corner to give Forest the lead shortly after Exeter keeper Joe Whitworth had saved his attempt well in the 32nd minute.
However, Magennis restored Exeter’s lead five minutes after the restart, this time on hand to score a deflected effort after a scramble from a deep corner.
Miguel was forced off with an injury soon after, with keeper Mats Sels replacing him.
Sels had to be alert to palm away an Ilmari Niskanen strike five minutes later as a rejuvenated Grecians—backed by a vociferous home end of packed fans—had their best spell of the game.
Forest brought on Elliot Anderson and Gibbs-White with 20 minutes left, and the pair both went close as the top-flight side shifted up a gear.
Late in the game, Exeter put pressure on Forest with a string of corners, one of which required a last-ditch stop from defender Willy-Arnaud Boly to clear the danger.
Due in part to Awoniyi’s head injury, City had Turns sent off before 20 minutes of stoppage time.
Both teams came very near to winning when Jota Silva struck the post and Pat Jones made a fantastic save against Sels.
Williams entered the game at the beginning of extra time, and Forest substituted Chris Wood for the injured Awoniyi.
Whitworth twice saved well from Wood early in the second period as Forest began to dominate with Exeter’s depleted and tiring team dropping deeper and deeper.
But the Grecians defended superbly with crucial interceptions and frustrated their top-flight opponents as they held out for a shootout after two wasted chances from Nicholas Dominguez.
Magennis and Wood scored their side’s first penalties, but Sels saved from Cole, and MacDonald hit the bar either side of a successful Gibbs-White penalty.
Tony Yogane converted Exeter’s fourth spot kick to give the home side hope, but Wales international Williams calmly converted Forest’s fourth to send them through.
“It was a heroic effort—it feels like we’ve been playing for about three days.
“With 11 men, I thought the game plan worked; we bought into it, we gave up possession to a team that wanted to play counter-attack, and we frustrated them.
“The disappointing thing was the two goals; they were soft goals from our point of view.
“The sending-off has a huge impact on the game, but against 11 we dig in, the finishers come on, and we gambled in the last 10 minutes. I didn’t want extra time.
“The players were outstanding. The mentality, the teamwork, the looking after each other, and the protecting each other in difficult moments were incredible. It’s something we have to take forward.
“We need to carry this feeling into the following 17 games; we need to use this performance.”
Nuno Espirito Santo, the head coach of Nottingham Forest, stated on BBC Radio Nottingham:
“It was difficult. We were aware of how difficult this FA Cup would be.
“We arguably did not play one of the better games, but Exeter deserves credit for that.
“What matters more is that we are happy in the end.
“Penalties are not a lottery. We had to prepare them, and the boys were focused on doing things properly.
“We take our penalty shots in training sessions and did well here.”