Nottingham Forest’s hero, Matt Turner, delivered a crucial win over Bristol City in a spot shootout, securing a fifth-round FA Cup fixture against Manchester United.
Due to a number of high-profile errors made by Turner in recent weeks, manager Nuno Espirito Santo was forced to acquire a new custodian during the January transfer window.
However, after the match finished 1-1, the US international held Bristol City at bay for 120 minutes and then stopped Sam Bell’s penalty kick as Forest won the shootout 5-3.
Forest had taken the lead early on thanks to Divock Origi’s first goal for the team since joining from AC Milan in the summer, but the Championship team never gave up and Jason Knight tied the score.
Turner made several saves throughout the game, and without him, they could have won the tie in regulation time as well as overtime.
The prize for Forest is a five-round meeting at the City Ground versus Manchester United in three weeks. However, given that they battled past League One Blackpool in the third round and now the second-tier Robins, they will need to improve tremendously.
After taking an 8-minute lead, Forest, who made eight changes from the team that drew at Bournemouth on Sunday, had plans for an easy night.
Max O’Leary was forced to make an incredible one-handed save by Morgan Gibbs-White down to his right, but Origi broke his Forest duck by glancing home from the ensuing corner.
But the Robins levelled six minutes later, and it was soon clear that a difficult night was ahead.
Andy King’s long-range drive was tipped onto one post by Turner. The ball then slid over the line and struck the other post, where Haydon Roberts caught it and set up Knight to tap into an open net.
Then, with Forest on the rack, Turner had to move down well to save Anis Mehmeti’s effort and even better to block Tommy Conway’s low shot.
Turner kept the Forest custodian busy early in the second half, save another attempt from Mehmeti.
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Taiwo Awoniyi were thrown on by Forest to try to take control of the game.
And in the last ten minutes, they started to exert some pressure.
As the game entered the extra time, Hudson-Odoi set up Neco Williams for a well-executed attempt by Nuno Tavares, but Williams’ attempt sailed narrowly wide.
Both teams had chances in extra time, with Moussa Niakhate missing a clear header and the unflappable Turner again denying Mehmeti with a reaching save.
After a nice move down the left, Nahki Wells was amazingly denied on the line, and Matty James whistled a shot over from a corner, but it was the Championship team that was pressing for a winner in the second period.
Turner, however, stopped Bell from kicking the penalty kick, allowing Awoniyi to score the game-winning goal.
Nottingham Forest host Newcastle before welcoming West Ham to the City Ground. Meanwhile, Bristol City travel to Middlesbrough before hosting Southampton at Ashton Gate.
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