Holders Leicester have been unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage after a heavy defeat by East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest.
Steve Cooper’s resurgent Championship outfit ran riot at a jubilant City Ground on Sunday, following up their shock upset of Arsenal with another notable Premier League scalp thanks to goals from Philip Zinckernagel, Brennan Johnson, Joe Worrall and Djed Spence.
Kelechi Iheanacho had briefly given Leicester faint hopes of an unlikely comeback at 3-1, but the Foxes were ultimately thrashed on a miserable afternoon for Brendan Rodgers.
Fellow second-tier outfit Huddersfield now await triumphant Forest at home in the last-16 as they eye a potential quarter-final berth since 1996.
Success in the Europa Conference League appears to be Leicester’s best hope of European football next term but Rodgers has growing problems.
Not least in defence, which folded again after Leicester appeared to have settled at the City Ground.
Iheanacho and Ademola Lookman threatened early yet it was a false dawn as Forest blew them away in a devastating nine-minute spell.
Keinan Davis had already crashed a volley off the bar before Forest snatched two goals in just 87 seconds.
It was Johnson who was crucial to underline his importance to the hosts, who resisted January interest from Brentford.
First, after 23 minutes, his deep cross found Davis to nod down for the unmarked Zinckernagel to steal in between Daniel Amartey and Wilfred Ndidi and fire past Danny Ward.
Leicester then collapsed seconds later when, from the restart, Amartey's awful back-pass found Johnson and he stroked through Ward's legs to make it 2-0.
The holders had been obliterated and worse was to follow when they fell further behind after 32 minutes.
Ryan Yates had already missed a fine headed chance before Ward turned Zinckernagel's shot wide and from Garner's resulting corner Worrall's diving header crept in.
But as the hosts celebrated a fan entered the field from the away section before starting to throw punches at the Forest players before being hauled away.
Forest swarmed over Leicester and Spence was denied by Ward, yet the hosts gifted the Foxes a lifeline they barely deserved five minutes before the break.
James Maddison's cute pass found Iheanacho on the left with Samba inexplicably rushing out of his goal. The striker pushed the ball through the goalkeeper's legs and finished well from an angle to give the visitors hope.
It completed a breathless half and the next goal was crucial. Patson Daka replaced Barnes at the break and he teed up Maddison to curl just wide eight minutes after the restart before firing over himself.
There was to be no heroic comeback, though, and Spence added a fourth just after the hour when he swapped passes with Zinckernagel to find the bottom corner.
