Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper hails goalkeeper Brice Samba after penalty shootout heroism UK News

Samba fended off Iliman Ndiaye’s close-range effort in extra time before saving three shots from Ollie Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White in the ensuing shootout, which Forest won 3-2 .

The home side took a 3-1 lead in the tie thanks to Brennan Johnson’s first-half goal before being caught in the second half thanks to efforts from Gibbs-White and John Fleck.

“We hope to give so many people a day to remember,” Cooper said.

“I can’t summarize at the moment, the reality is that we have another step to take.

“To get through two legs of a semi-final play-off you have to do a bit of everything, you have to play well, suffer, have a bit of luck and dig in – all the things you have to do to be a real team we made.

Samba’s penalty heroics sparked a late game invasion as Forest moved within 90 minutes of returning to top-flight football for the first time since 1999.

Cooper added: “Brice was brilliant today, I’m not one to single people out, but it’s hard not to say how good he was in terms of penalties, saves, distribution and of calm.

“He’s a big part of what we do on and off the pitch. It’s great that he got his moment.”