Goalkeeper Brice Samba helped deliver Nottingham Forest’s penalty plan to perfection as the Reds booked their ticket to Wembley.
Forest’s play-offs semi-final tie against Sheffield United went to spot-kicks on a pulsating night at the City Ground, after the score was locked at 3-3 on aggregate following extra-time. Samba had already made two stunning saves to keep out Iliman Ndiaye during the second leg, then proved the hero in the shootout as he denied Ollie Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White.
The 28-year-old had notes about the Blades’ penalty takers written on a piece of paper stuck to a water bottle, which he hid in a towel. Meanwhile, boss Steve Cooper had brought on midfielder Cafu in the 119th minute with penalties in mind, as he is “a good penalty taker”.
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The Portuguese, Brennan Johnson and Steve Cook all found the net as Forest triumphed 3-1. But it was Samba who stole the spotlight.
“Brice deserves the headlines. Amazing,” said Cooper.
“He was ready. We were ready. He’s delivered the plan perfectly.
“He deserves all the accolades he’s going to get, and he’ll certainly get them from the rest of the team. But he’ll be the first one to say it’s about the team as well.
“They were great saves. Brilliant.
“Let’s not lose sight of his saves during the game, too. They were great saves.
“It’s his job, don’t get me wrong. But he had a particularly good night.
“We had a plan for everything. I don’t want to speak about it too much, because we’ve got another game to go. But we were ready.”
