Ryan Yates scored the decisive penalty as Nottingham Forest booked a place in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley with a penalty shootout win over Brighton and Hove Albion.
The surprise package of the Premier League battled to a 0-0 draw after extra time at the American Express Stadium, as a meeting with their fellow Champions League chasers failed to live up to the billing.
Forest, though, continued their love affair with penalties in this competition, winning their third FA Cup shootout of the campaign.
Matz Sels produced successive saves from a pair of poor Brighton penalties, allowing captain Yates the chance to keep Forest’s hopes of a first FA Cup win since 1959 firmly intact.
WHAT. A. MOMENT. pic.twitter.com/3ZgZtv3z3x
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) March 29, 2025
Brighton v Nottingham Forest
Brighton were looking to avenge the 7-0 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Forest at the start of February, but it was the visitors who looked most threatening early on.
Taiwo Awoniyi, hoping to make the most of a rare start in the absence of top scorer Chris Wood, went close when his drive from a tight angle crashed against the legs of Bart Verbruggen.
Pervis Estupinan saw a long-range drive produce an awkward save from Matz Sels, but chances were few and far between, and that remained the case in the second half.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s ambitious effort forced Sels to tip over four minutes into the second half, but Forest thought they had been handed a golden chance to score when Peter Bankes pointed to the spot when Elliott Anderson went down under a challenge from Kaoru Mitoma.
However, after a VAR check, Bankes changed his decision, ruling that Anderson had initiated the contact with the sliding Mitoma’s elbow.
Verbruggen ensured the game would go to extra time with a close-range save to deny Murillo, and the extra half-hour proved typically cagey.
Brighton though, would have felt unlucky not to find a winner from the additional period, Sels producing heroics to turn over Diego Gomez’s header before Joao Pedro had a goal correctly disallowed for offside.
That meant an uninspiring game went to a shootout, and it was Forest who would ultimately prove to have the greater composure.
Brighton earned a reprieve after Jack Hinsherwood’s tame effort was easily saved by Sels, Neco Williams subsequently blazing over the bar.
But Gomez then fired a powerful penalty straight at Sels, and this time Forest took advantage, Nikola Milenkovic and Yates calming slotting home either side of a successful Lewis Dunk spot-kick to send the travelling Forest fans into delirium.
