Even as modern life takes over, history is everything in the FA Cup. The competition’s newfound disdain for replays allowed Nottingham Forest to become the first team to win three consecutive FA Cup penalty shootouts. History was made, novelty was witnessed, but in a setting that emphasised the traditions of the grand old Cup. After Exeter and Ipswich, fell Brighton, and so Forest matched the feat of the Moroccan army side FAR Rabat, who beat MC Oujda, Wydad Casablanca and Rachad Bernoussi on penalties in successive rounds to win the Coupe du Trone in 2007.
It was a game characterised by caution, reflecting both Forest’s habitual preference for a low block and Brighton’s wariness after losing 7-0 to Forest last month. But it also perhaps reflected how much both sides cared, a welcome, if retro, feature of the latter stages of the FA Cup this season.
