Swansea City 5-1 Nottingham Forest: Swans cruise into FA Cup last 16
- Published
- comments
Highlights: Swansea City 5-1 Nottingham Forest
Swansea City set up an FA Cup fifth-round meeting with Manchester City thanks to a 5-1 thrashing of Nottingham Forest.
Liam Cullen and Matt Grimes claimed two goals apiece and Ollie Cooper's fifth ensured Swansea reached the last 16 for the third time in four seasons.
They will host Pep Guardiola's City, who won at Cheltenham, in February.
Swansea's progress was rarely in doubt as they won the battle of two much-changed sides with ease.
Boss Steve Cooper was contemplating hosting Cheltenham for a while later in the day as they led Manchester City 1-0.
But the visitors scored three times in the last 10 minutes to ensure their trip to Liberty Stadium with the tie to be played between Tuesday, 9 and Thursday 11 February.
Swansea had already beaten Forest in the Championship this season, where the Welsh club are chasing promotion while Chris Hughton's men are attempting to pull clear of a relegation scrap.
Hughton made 10 changes compared with Cooper's seven on Saturday, and it was Forest's second string who were quickly on the back foot as Wayne Routledge broke the offside trap and centred for academy product Cullen to volley home only his second Swansea goal.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Jamal Lowe - an early replacement for the injured Routledge - saw a heavy touch cost him the chance to double the lead, before Swansea skipper Grimes found the target from 25 yards, his spectacular drive flashing into the net with Jordan Smith motionless in the Forest goal.
The visitors briefly improved after the break, hauling themselves back into the contest when Joe Lolley's persistence down the left allowed Anthony Knockaert to drill home from close range.
But Forest's hopes of a comeback did not last long, as Ryan Manning tumbled under Joe Worrall's challenge and Swansea were awarded a contentious penalty.
Grimes stepped up to send Smith the wrong way from the spot, before Cullen scored the goal of the day after good work from Yan Dhanda and Manning.
Swansea finished with 10 men after Cullen limped off with an ankle injury, but that did not stop substitute Cooper marking only his second senior appearance with his first goal at this level, a left-footed shot which went through Smith's legs and squirmed over the line.
Grimes smashes in stunning second for Swansea
Swansea head coach Cooper:
"Loads and loads of pluses.
"I didn't love the start of the second half. Although I am not going to dwell on that, it is a reminder that we need to start games and halves better.
"But we shouldn't talk about that for too long. There were too many things in the game to make us pleased.
"Culls [Liam Cullen] has deserved the goals. I said to him not so long ago that we have just been waiting for those chances to drop to him, because he will score those chances."
Nottingham Forest manager Hughton:
"Even though Swansea made a fair few changes, what they are is a team in a confident mood.
"We made too many errors, which you can't afford to do against a form team. We accept that in the first half we were second best.
"The pivotal part of the game, in what was our best period having got back to 2-1, was the penalty. The ref, for me, makes a dreadful decision. I was quite confident from where I was that it wasn't a penalty.
"The lad's gone down. I don't like to use the word diving, but from the angles I've seen there's no contact. The lad drags his leg a little bit and it's certainly simulation."
Barack Obama's A Promised Land: Hear from the former US president as he reflects on his time in office
BBC Food: How can you eat well for £1 a portion?
