Brice Samba saves three penalties to send Nottingham Forest to playoff final

Brice Samba was the hero as he saved three penalties in the shootout to give Nottingham Forest their first Wembley appearance since 1992.

Sheffield United may have joined Liverpool as the one of two teams to have beaten Steve Cooper’s team at the City Ground in 2022, but ultimately Forest’s remarkable rise from the foot of the Championship to the cusp of the Premier League is still on.

Samba, the mercurial French goalkeeper, saved from Oliver Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White to extend United’s hoodoo in the playoffs, in which they have now failed in nine attempts.

John Fleck levelled the scores on aggregate in the 75th minute of a tumultuous Championship play-off semi-final as Paul Heckingbottom’s team battled battle back from 3-1 down on aggregate to take Forest into extra time.

Fleck, a key member of the side who went from League One to the Premier League under Chris Wilder, turned in George Baldock’s cross from the right wing to turn this tie on its head.

Battling for the right to meet Huddersfield Town at Wembley on 29 May, Forest led on the night through Brennan Johnson’s goal only for Gibbs-White to equalise shortly after half-time as United refused to give up on their bid for a return to the elite.

But Forest held their nerve in the shootout as the majority of another 29,000 sellout crowd spilled onto the pitch to celebrate in a mist of red.

The atmosphere at kick-off was red hot but that only intensified as United spurned a chance to level the scores on aggregate before going behind to Johnson’s 19th goal of the season.

There was a searing humidity around the City Ground as Forest fans walking over the River Trent dared to dream of a first trip to the new Wembley, maybe even of a first appearance