Nottingham Forest are set to play in the Premier League for the first time in 23 years as they edged Sheffield United on penalties in their Championship play-off semi-final.
But they were made to sweat at the City Ground as the visitors brilliantly managed to come from behind and draw until extra time and the dreaded shoot-out.
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Forest fans will be treated to their first trip to Wembley since the League Cup final in 1992
Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba was the hero of the evening
The tie seemed to have been put to bed when Brennan Johnson opened the scoring in the 19th minute to put Forest 3-1 up, while the away side lost their cool.
A mass brawl was sparked after Paul Heckingbottom pushed the ball into the lower part of Forest defender Djed Spence’s stomach – Heckingbottom was shown a yellow card for the offence.
But Heckingbottom’s men were a different team after the break and equalized on the night thanks to Morgan Gibbs-White’s elegant finish.
And they took the draw in extra time thanks to John Fleck’s strike from close range.
Forest keeper Brice Samba made a crucial save to prevent the visitors from completing extra time.
It was Samba who proved to be the hero as he saved kicks from Oliver Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Gibbs-White to seal a 3-2 victory in the shootout.
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Johnson scored his 18th goal of the season and put Forest up 3-1 on aggregate
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Heckingbottom may have been lucky to avoid a red card for pushing the ball to Spence
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The visitors fought back brilliantly to bring the draw back to extra time
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But it was Forest’s night as they won 3-2 on penalties
Forest, who were last in the Championship when Steve Cooper took over in September, will face Huddersfield in the play-off final at Wembley on May 29.
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