Nottingham Forest 2-1 Huddersfield Town (Surridge 29′, Yates 37′ | Lees 13′)
CITY GROUND — Nottingham Forest are one of only seven teams in England’s top four leagues never to play at the new Wembley, a club let down by play-off capitulation, domestic cup disinterest and a malaise that gave way to chaos. They are one match from a glorious day out to a stadium they must have wondered if they would ever see again.
More immediately, they will face Liverpool in an FA Cup quarter-final that will provoke immense nostalgia for a time when both clubs tussled for domestic and European honours. Liverpool do not need to dream of halcyon days any longer, Jürgen Klopp has brought back glory to Anfield. But at the City Ground, dreams will do for now. It has been too long.
Carlos Corberan and Steve Cooper are two of the surprise managerial overachievers of this Championship season. Huddersfield Town finished two places and six points above the bottom three last season but Corberan has overseen an extraordinary improvement since.
Cooper didn’t even have a club in August but Forest usually change managers at least once and he got the call. Under Chris Hughton, Forest took one point from their first seven league games. They are in the top six for form since.
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Huddersfield have a prodigious record from attacking set pieces this season and took the lead from a 13th-minute corner. A clutch of players in blue hang at the back post before rushing on to an inswinging delivery. Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath was repeatedly stuck on his line when more proaction might have been wiser. Tom Lees stooped to score from two yards.
But Forest are resilient beasts under Cooper. Sam Surridge had already had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside when he swept home after James Garner’s excellent through ball had been intercepted.
Eight minutes later, Forest were in front as Huddersfield suffered their own set-piece lapse. Josh Ruffels held a deeper offside line than his defensive colleagues and Ryan Yates had a simple task of heading past Jamal Blackman. Four Town defenders looked for an assistant referee’s flag; the other looked sheepish.
This triumph, this cup run, has been masterminded by Cooper. He lives every moment on the touchline, ridden with angst as 70 minutes became 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95. But Forest are no longer frail and it is Cooper’s doing.
He predominantly learnt his trade as a coach within Liverpool’s academy, overseeing the development of Raheem Sterling and Trent Alexander-Arnold, among others. He will now get a chance to face his former club for an evening on which the City Ground will be rocking.
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