Matz Sels saved Jack Taylor’s penalty in the shootout to send Nottingham Forest through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup following a 1-1 draw against Ipswich after extra-time at the City Ground.
Forest’s dream season continued as they moved one step closer to a first trophy since 1990 while Ipswich now switch their attention to staying in the Premier League.
Both sides were far from impressive in a first period void of any sort of quality with the goalkeepers bystanders as the game finished goalless at the break.
England manager Thomas Tuchel was watching on in the stands and would have taken very little from a dull first 45 minutes but the second half offered more entertainment.
George Hirst’s third goal of the season put the visitors on track for a first win over any Premier League side this calendar year until Ryan Yates’ equalising header sent the match into extra time.
No goals came in the extra 30 minutes and Sels dived low to his left to stop Taylor from the spot to secure a 5-4 shootout success, setting up a quarter-final clash at Brighton.
The best chance of the first period fell to Ibrahim Sangare, who glanced a header across the face of goal but Ipswich were thankful to see the header bounce wide.
Anthony Elanga aimed to inject some energy into Forest’s otherwise drab performance with an effort from distance which Alex Palmer had to be alert to at the start of the second half.
Ipswich started to show a little more ambition as they sensed a Forest team not quite performing at their best. Sam Morsy got the ball out of his feet and decided to smash an audacious 35-yard effort towards goal but Sels got the finest of fingertips on it to push over the bar.
However, he could not stop the Tractor Boys from breaking
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