Samba the hero as Forest beat Sheff Utd on pens to reach Wembley

Nottingham Forest beat Sheffield United 3-2 on penalties to seal their passage to Wembley for the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

Steve Cooper's side did it the hard way at the City Ground. Leading 2-1 from the first leg and then having extended that lead through Brennan Johnson, they allowed United back into the tie as goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and John Fleck took the game to extra-time and penalties.

But they secured their spot at the national stadium on May 29 where they will face Huddersfield after Brice Samba saved three penalties in the shootout. Ending a 23-year wait for top-flight football is one step closer for Forest.

For Sheffield United, the dream of an immediate Premier League return is over. They face another year in the Championship.

United were largely outplayed in the first leg and were fairly fortunate to head to the City Ground only trailing by a goal. But they immediately looked brighter in the early exchanges and should have levelled the tie on 13 minutes when a brilliant Gibbs-White pass found Iliman Ndiaye unmarked in the middle, but he couldn't beat the onrushing Samba.

And they would pay for that spurned opportunity six minutes later as Forest took the lead on the night, and extended their aggregate advantage, with virtually their first chance of the game. A quick attack saw Sam Surridge run in behind, before his perfect ball across goal found Johnson, who slid in to fire a brilliant finish past Wes Foderingham.

It was a goal that struck a blow to United's momentum and started to impact the mentality of their players and manager Paul Heckingbottom - who sparked a melee towards the end of the half when he thrust a ball into the midriff of Djed Spence as he believed the Forest man was