Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper hails goalkeeper Brice Samba after penalty shootout heroics

Samba kept out Iliman Ndiaye’s close-range effort deep into extra time before saving three penalty kicks from Ollie Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White in the subsequent 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 they were pegged back in the second period courtesy of efforts from Gibbs-White and John Fleck.

“We are hopefully going to give so many people a day to remember,” said Cooper.

“I can’t sum it up at the moment, the reality is that we have another step to go.

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

Samba’s penalty heroics sparked a pitch invasion at the end of the match as Forest moved to within 90 minutes of a return to top-flight football for the first time since 1999.

Cooper added: “Brice was brilliant today, I’m not one for singling people out but its’s difficult not to talk about how good he was in terms of the penalties, the saves, the distribution and the calmness.

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