Nottingham Forest have reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup for the second time in four years after a hard-fought win on penalties against Ipswich Town.
The Reds fell behind shortly after half-time when George Hirst took advantage of some haphazard marking from a corner to head through a sea of players and into the net.
Forest rallied though and after calling for Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson from the bench, the Reds found a breakthrough when Ryan Yates headed home a brilliant cross from Anthony Elanga.
That was the end of the scoring. Yates saw another effort ruled out for offside but it would go to penalties and after Forest scored all five of their efforts, Jack Taylor missed to send the Reds to the last eight of the competition.
Nottingham Forest red card might have been missed during FA Cup win
Forest are due some luck when it comes to VAR. In fact, if the Reds are going to get even from the PGMOL including all of last season’s decisions as well, there might be some more to come in the weeks ahead.
Yates collected a yellow card for a good breaking of a promising attack towards the end of the first half of extra time and on another night he might have been shown his marching orders.
Sky Sports reporter Sam Blitz spotted an incident later in extra time that he felt might have led to referee Tony Harrington pulling out another yellow card for the Forest captain
He said: “Yates is lucky to still be on. The Forest captain leans an elbow into Morsy and already on a booking, he’s fortunate not to be handed his marching orders after Tony Harrington blew up for a foul.”
Ryan Yates stats vs Ipswich
It has to be said that this was largely a positive performance for Yates. When Gibbs-White was introduced, the captain excelled and he found some brilliant pockets of space.
Yates will be hoping to get himself into contention to play more often in the Premier League on the back of this. He’s not been considered a regular of late and this showing might have given Nuno Espirito Santo some food for thought.
| Ryan Yates stats vs Ipswich | Total |
| Minutes | 120 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Tackles | 2 |
| Aerials Won | 2 |
The player is very much Mr Nottingham Forest. He’s the last man standing from the team that won promotion to the Premier League and he very much has a role to play in the squad.
Espirito Santo has a challenge to find a position for him in the team. With other midfielders at his disposal, he might have to remain patient for a little while with the likes of Elliot Anderson and Nicolas Dominguez also playing well of late.
One thing is for sure, it looks as though Yates is up for the fight when it comes to getting his shirt back in the top flight.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
