Nottingham Forest earn comeback win over Huddersfield to set up FA Cup meeting with Liverpool
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Huddersfield: The hosts haven’t faced the Reds for over two decades but they were big rivals in English football decades ago
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Your support makes all the difference.Nottingham Forest will host Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals after coming from behind to beat Championship rivals Huddersfield 2-1 at the City Ground.
Having had a Sam Surridge effort controversially ruled out for offside, Forest fell behind moments later when Tom Lees netted with a 13th-minute header.
Surridge then struck an equaliser in the 29th minute, before Ryan Yates completed the turnaround for Steve Cooper’s men by nodding home eight minutes later.
Forest, victorious against Arsenal and Leicester in the previous two rounds, advance to the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time in 26 years and a first meeting since 1999 with Liverpool, who will visit a week on Sunday.
For Carlos Corberan’s Huddersfield, currently second in the Championship table, the result saw an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end.
After both sides took part in a pre-match round of applause in a show of solidarity with Ukraine, Forest made a lively start to the contest, with Surridge seeing a shot deflect wide and James Garner having one collected by Jamal Blackman.
They then thought they had grabbed the lead after 11 minutes when Surridge tucked the ball home from Brennan Johnson’s delivery, but the flag went up for offside.
The decision left Forest fuming and looked questionable in replays, but stood with no VAR in use - and within moments it was Huddersfield who went in front instead as Lees headed in from Danel Sinani’s corner.
The hosts hit back just before the half-hour mark with Surridge again providing the finish, this time firing past Blackman when the ball came to him via Naby Sarr’s challenge on Yates.
Forest fans voiced further unhappiness with the officials when play was allowed to continue after Matty Pearson caught Surridge - and subsequently breathed a sigh of relief seconds later as Pipa struck the post and Sorba Thomas’ follow-up shot was well saved by Ethan Horvath.
They were then celebrating again shortly after as Garner swung in a free-kick and Yates headed the ball home to put Forest 2-1 up.
A Huddersfield attack early in the second half saw Thomas strike into the side netting, before Max Lowe headed wide at the other end.
Duane Holmes went down in the box under the attentions of Forest skipper Joe Worrall, with referee Graham Scott saying no penalty.
Horvath did well to push away a free-kick from Huddersfield substitute Danny Ward in the 73rd minute and denied the same player again three minutes later, turning his strike behind.
Djed Spence and Garner subsequently had chances to settle Forest nerves, only to both shoot over, before the final whistle confirmed Cooper’s side as victors.
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