Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Match report: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolves (4-3 on pens). Forest reach first semi final since 1992.

Steve Cooper will be the first Nottingham Forest manager since Brian Clough to take the club to a cup semi final. The reds have beaten fellow Premier League side Wolves on penalties after a game of few chances. Their semi final opponents will be Manchester United where they will look to pull of an upset. Cooper named ten changes after his side were ripped apart by Blackpool with only Gustavo Scarpa staying in the 11. On the other side, Julen Lopetegui made 6 changes to his side. The most notable being Joao Moutinho coming in for captain Ruben Neves. It was Forest who took the lead after 18 minutes. A corner resulted in a scramble in the box, with it coming off the bar twice, then eventually falling to former Wolves defender Willy Boly as he scored from close range. It was a first goal in Garibaldi for the defender who held back the celebrations against his former side. The visitors then had a huge chance to level things up. Raul Jimenez broke through one on one with Henderson, but it was the keeper that came out on top pulling of a huge save to deny the Mexican. It was the Manchester United loanee who produced the heroics again. Jimenez cross to the back post found Hwang, his shot was yet again brilliantly saved by the English keeper to keep the score at 1-0. It was Cooper's men who were heading into the break ahead. The half had not many chances with Forest scoring their only big chance on the half. But the Forest faithful seemed confident going into the break. It was former Wolves man and Forest record signing Morgan Gibbs-White who had the first chance of half. Kilman struggled to deal with a long ball, with it eventually falling to Gibbs-White and his low shot was well saved by Jose Sa. Then the visitors found their equaliser. Substitute Matheus Cunha was played down the right hand side before his ball across the face of goal was tapped home by Jimenez for his second goal f the season. It was a deserved goal for the visitors, who saw a lot of the ball in the second half . That was about it for the 90 minutes as the game went to penalties. Wolves would have been disappointed after the amount of the ball they saw in the second half. The home side did manage to hit the post after a lose ball found its way to the post. Both sides missed their first penalties. Sam Surridge had his saved by Sa, who had a 100% save percentage from the spot this season. It was Henderson who denied Wolves captain Neves to breath relief into the Forest fans After all the other penalties were scored, it fell to youngster Joe Hodge in sudden death to keep Wolves in it. But his penalty was saved by Henderson to send Forest to the semi final. The City Ground erupted after the save to top of another memorable night for Forest fans. There was ugly scenes at full time. After Forest players goading to Wolves fans, including Gibbs-White, it kicked of in the middle of the pitch. It seemed something was said between Gibbs-White and a members of the Wolves squad but it was eventually eased of. But for the first time in three decades. Forest are in a cup semi final where they will be looking for another trip to Wembley. The reds turn their attention to a big game in the league against Leicester City. Wolves host West Ham in what could be a relegation six pointer.

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