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EXETER, England :Premier League high-fliers Nottingham Forest struggled past 10-man Exeter City 4-2 on penalties to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup after being held 2-2 by their third tier opponents.
Forest, who had started the night with a second-string side at St James Park, will now host top flight rivals Ipswich in the last 16 in March.
The lowest-ranked club left in the competition gave Forest, who are third in the top flight and now the highest-placed team remaining in the draw – a tough time after taking a fifth minute lead.
They then fought back from 2-1 down to end the second half with everything still to play for and the crowd holding their breath and hoping for another major upset.
Exeter’s Ed Turns was shown a straight red card in the 87th for a high challenge on second half substitute Morgan Gibbs-White but they still had several good chances after that as the game stayed deadlocked through extra time.
Forest, who made 10 changes to the side that beat Brighton & Hove Albion 7-0 in their previous Premier League match, had Nigeria striker Taiwo Awoniyi treated on the pitch and taken off on a stretcher in extensive second half stoppage time.
“It was a hard game, we had a lot of setbacks,” a relieved Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo told ITV television.
“I think we started the game in a bad way but the response was good.
“It was tough but happy in the end that we are going through.”
Striker and captain Josh Magennis had the Grecians fans dreaming after Forest reserve goalkeeper Carlos Miguel fumbled an attempted catch and he was there to give Exeter a shock lead.
The hope of a similar upset to nearby Plymouth Argyle’s 1-0 defeat of mighty Liverpool on Sunday died down 10 minutes later, when Ramon Sosa levelled with a shot that went in off goalkeeper Joe Whitworth.
Forest drew strength from the equaliser and Awoniyi put the visitors ahead in the 37th when he collected the ball with his back to goal and turned to curl in a low shot.
Exeter refused to give up and equalised in the 50th when Magennis’s shot went in after taking a deflection off Willy Boly.
Miguel went off injured eight minutes later with Premier League regular Matz Sels coming on as his replacement between the posts.
There was a 12 minute delay in stoppage time when Awoniyi suffered a heavy clash with Whitworth and needed medical attention on the pitch. The Nigeria international was taken off on a stretcher, surrounded by physios and doctors.
Magennis stepped up first to take the spot kicks, smashing the ball past Sels who then saved from Reece Cole after Chris Wood had made it 1-1.
Gibbs-White made it 2-1 to Forest and Angus MacDonald hit the woodwork to leave Exeter in trouble with Elliot Anderson taking it to 3-1. Tony Yogane kept home hopes alive before Neco Williams ended them.
