Blackpool 4-1 Nottingham Forest: Championship strugglers knock Premier League side out of the FA Cup
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Blackpool stun Forest in FA Cup with 4-1 win
Championship strugglers Blackpool humbled Premier League Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round.
The Seasiders, in the relegation zone in the second tier, took a 17th-minute lead through Marvin Ekpiteta.
Forest, who changed their entire starting XI, spurned a host of chances to draw level at Bloomfield Road.
Ian Poveda, CJ Hamilton and Jerry Yates struck in the second half before Ryan Yates claimed a consolation.
The fourth-round draw takes place on Sunday at 16:05 GMT.
"This is a fantastic competition that I have been fortunate to experience fantastic days in and this was one of them," said Blackpool boss Michael Appleton.
Forest's thrilling run to last season's quarter-finals buoyed their ultimately successfully push for a long-awaited promotion back to the Premier League.
But Steve Cooper's team selection suggested Forest were happy to sacrifice this season's competition to focus on avoiding an immediate return to the Championship.
Blackpool's James Husband volleyed narrowly wide of the far post before Forest failed to deal with Hamilton's left-wing cross and Shayne Lavery's scuffed shot found Ekpiteta. The centre-half, who had stayed forward following a free-kick, stabbed the ball past Wayne Hennessey from 10 yards.
Forest were on top either side of half-time, with Ekpiteta making a couple of important blocks in the second half.
But Neco Williams gave the ball away in his own half to Blackpool substitute Yates, whose run into the box resulted in on-loan Leeds winger Poveda bundling the ball in.
Hamilton exchanged passes with another sub, Kenny Dougall, before hitting a fine volley inside the far post from the left side of the box, and Yates wrapped up a fine win with a half-volley via the crossbar from Poveda's cross.
"Everyone played their part," Appleton added. "We didn't think we'd get that many chances. They had chances but so did we and we were far more clinical.
"It was great to get the first goal - getting the second one has been the issue for us. So I just saw a sense of relief and confidence build from getting the second."
Forest fringe players fail to impress
Forest have made more than 20 signings this season and Cooper gave several of those who have not played regularly a chance to impress. They did not take it.
Emmanuel Dennis curled a shot against the Blackpool bar in the first half, while Williams twice went close.
Sam Surridge missed three clear chances and Lewis O'Brien was also off target in the second half.
The tie was beyond Forest by the time Yates came off the bench to head in from Harry Toffolo's cross in stoppage time.
"I've told the players that the individual mistakes for the goals conceded are unacceptable and so was missing the target with some of our chances," said Cooper.
"Even at 2-0 down, I felt we looked the most likely to score and we were still very much in the game but we seemed to accept the situation we were in and we didn't fight enough to get back into it.
"We have to accept that we fell short in every area. Recently, we've shown some good examples of what it takes to play well and win but we showed the complete opposite today. We need to make sure that never happens again.
"We can't forget this too quickly and I've been clear with the players on that. We can't turn performances on and off, I felt there was too much entitlement in our game and we need to sort that out."
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