Nottingham Forest stun FA cup holders Leicester City

Steve Cooper’s side put on a thrilling performance to comfortably beat their Premier League adversaries 4-1, in the first match the two sides have contested for eight years.  

Nottingham Forest’s players showed not only spirit and determination, but moments of sheer class to overpower Leicester in what most fans will agree was their best performance of the season. 

The opening minutes of the game were a nervy affair, with both sets of players made to feel the magnitude of the occasion by the raucous atmosphere inside the sold-out City Ground. 

However, it wasn’t long before Forest’s number nine, Keinan Davis, would set the tone for what was to come. The man on loan from Aston Villa, was unlucky not to stretch his scoring run to a third consecutive game after he rattled the bar with a vicious volley.

Shortly after, in the 23rd minute, he outmuscled Leicester’s James Justin to knock the ball down to Philip Zinckernagel for a simple header to open the scoring. 

A minute later Nottingham had doubled their lead. Brennan Johnson snuck in behind Leicester’s back line before coolly slotting the ball between Danny Ward’s legs to send the home fans into rapture.

Leicester’s defence continued to falter and by the 32nd minute they found themselves three down. Local lad, Joe Worrall rounded off the ruthless nine-minute spell when he leapt to connect with James Garner’s corner. The blue end of the City Ground was stunned into silence. 

Five minutes before the halftime whistle Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back after capitalising on a goalkeeping error by Brice Samba, but it would turn out to only be a consolation goal.

In the second half Djed Spence restored Nottingham’s lead to complete the rout. The loanee from Middlesbrough scored the best goal of the day in front of the Trent End, as he raced through Leicester’s defence with the help of some intricate inter-play from Zinckernagel. 

After hitting the headlines in the victory over Arsenal last month, youngsters Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence both led by example once more. While Keinan Davis drew comparisons with Stan Collymore from some fans after his dominant display up-front.

Nottingham’s masterclass was aided by a Leicester side that never really got going. The Premier League club had almost two-thirds of the possession but never made it count as they could only muster up two shots on-target throughout the 90 minutes. 

Leicester would have hoped that a line-up bolstered by the return of key players, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi, from the African Cup of Nations would have provided some sort of spark to get their team going – but this wasn’t to be.

The Foxes manager, Brendan Rodgers, didn’t hold back in his post-match interviews. He stated: “It was an awful performance. I have to apologise to the fans.” He continued to say: “That’s the first time since I’ve been here that I was embarrassed.”  

Despite the magnificent feast of football on show, the day may well be remembered more infamously for a series of incidents of major fan disorder both on and off the pitch. In the days leading up to the game warnings were made by both Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire Police to encourage supporters to be mindful of their behaviour.

Unfortunately, these warnings were not heeded, and the city centre was marred by violence in the hours before kick-off. 

By midday, fights had begun to break out and scores of masked, ticketless, so-called Leicester City supporters attacked the Fat Cat Bar on Angel Row, throwing chairs and tables. Later, at 3:20pm the Cross Keys pub on Byard Lane became the target, with considerable damage done to the outside of the pub before police could contain the situation. 

The trouble continued inside the ground for Leicester as a 19-year-old invaded the pitch during the celebrations of Nottingham’s third goal and threw punches at several players until he was apprehended by stewards.

The man was arrested by police and has since been given a lifetime ban by Leicester City, who have condemned his actions and apologised for endangering the Nottingham players. An afternoon to forget for Leicester fans and a day that will live long in the memory for Forest supporters. 

Sunday’s fifth round draw confirmed the Reds will face Huddersfield at home in the next round, and after seeing off two Premier League opponents in their last two ties, Forest fans will be wondering just how far they can go in this year’s edition of the FA Cup.