by Dean Henderson was the hero of Nottingham Forest who saved two penalties in a penalty shootout against the Wolves, sending his side to the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
The Manchester United goalkeeper on loan kept the spotlights away from Ruben Neves and Joe Hodge, and Forest won 4-3 after regular time ended 1-1.
Willy Boly scored against his former club to put Forest ahead, but Raul Jimenez was leveled after the break in a bloody battle that resulted in a massive brawl on the field at the end of the penalty shootout, and he’s sure to hit both clubs. hot water.
Forest is in the last four of a memorable competition by winning four times and now a return to Wembley looks like a real possibility as they will be playing either Manchester United, Newcastle or Southampton in the two-leg final. -four ties.
Steve Cooper is back in the strongest 11 with 10 substitutions for Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Blackpool, and his intentions to try and move forward were clear from the start.
They got off to a lively start with Morgan Gibbs-White coming in instead of Gustavo Scarpa, but the Brazilian couldn’t get his shot right and the Wolves survived.
Forest took a well-deserved lead in the 18th minute when two Molineux elders scored and were finished.
Gibbs-White hit the close post on a dangerous bend, veered off the crossbar, and Boly was ready to nudge home at close range.
Boly showed his respect for the club, for which he played almost 150 times in a five-year spell by refusing to celebrate, but the rest of City Ground made up for it.
Henderson was a spectator 35 minutes into the opening, but the loaner keeper proved his worth with two saves within minutes to keep his side at bay.
He landed well first to block Jonny’s low effort and then made a great stop after the Wolves cut Forest, staying large to beat Jimenez’s effort by 12 yards.
An even better save came four minutes later as the Wolves began threatening regularly.
They broke the right and Jimenez sent an inviting cross for Hee-Chan Hwang, but the South Korean’s first effort was clawed by Henderson.
Having weathered the storm before the break, Forest regained the lead after the reboot and had a chance to expand his leadership.
Gibbs-White picked up a stray ball at the edge of the field and forced Jose Sa to a low save, and then, after the former Wolves man dived into the field, he was met by Serge Aurier, who retrieved the ball, and his shot was blocked.
Wolves were suddenly leveled at 64 minutes as Forest regretted not taking one of those chances.
They threw the ball out from the right and Matheus Cunha, who was in play for only six minutes, sent a ball into goal that Jimenez couldn’t miss.
The forest regrouped, and a pass attempt inside the field bounced off Nelson Semedo as he made his way to the post, very close to backing up to the front.
The Wolves felt they should have taken a late penalty as they were squeezed between Emmanuel Dennis and Cunha, but referee Graham Scott parried the protests, which led to a melee between the two sides and earned visiting coach Julen Lopetegui a yellow card.
This meant that the game was decided from the moment it went to a penalty shootout.
Penalty specialist Henderson stepped forward with his saves from Neves and Hodge to send his side before the ugly scenes at the full-time whistle.
