Nottingham Forest avoided any FA Cup magic drama as they dispatched Luton Town with ease in their first game since announcing Rob Edward’s departure. The departure didn’t inspire any change in results as the Hatters laboured to a disappointing exit from the oldest cup competition.
Both sides had chances before Nottingham Forest‘s captain Ryan Yates stooped low to head in the opening goal of the afternoon. Luton offered no threat to the Reds and they doubled the lead as the eyecatching Roman Sosa secured the win with a simple finish following a flowing move.
Forest go bouncing into their next league game aginst the Premier League leaders on the back of six straight wins. On the other hand, Luton must recover from five consecutive defeats and focus on appointing a new manager to get their season going again.
Nuno Espirito Santos made 11 changes to his starting lineup in order to give his squad players minutes whilst resting some of his players ahead of their blockbuster fixture against Liverpool. Interestingly Forest seemed to have gone with a 3-4-3 set up which may have been to experiment with a formation their head coach knows very well.
Luton Town’s interm managers Paul Trollope and Richie Kyle went with a fairly strong side aiming to spring a FA Cup surprise. As the Hatters sit a couple of places above the relegation spots in the second tier, this provided a chance to pump life back into the Championship club.
Forest would have been determined to make a fast start to avoid any chance of an upset. They ventured into Luton’s box at will with Ramon Sosa having two early penalty shouts turned down.
Luton set up to sit deep, frustrate the home side and hit them on the counter which nearly worked early on as Liam Walsh tested Carlos Miguel from 30 yards with a ambitious effort. Nuno’s side responded by hitting the woodwork. Ryan Yates is not a usual goalscorer but left Thomas Kaminski standing as his upright was left rattled by Forest’s captain’s thunderbolt strike.
Debutant Isaiah Jones nearly scored a brilliant solo goal as he jinked past several Forest defenders but couldn’t beat Miguel. The game remained stretched as both sides were creating opportunities.
James Ward-Prowse got a chance to test Kaminski with his trademark free kick. The Belgian grabbed the ball at the second attempt before Willy Boly could stab the rebound in.
Forest finally took control of the contest and took the lead before halftime. The impressive Sosa whipped in a pinpoint accurate cross for Yates to head in and edge his side in front. It was a lead Forest saw out comfortably until halftime.
Forest was not standing off as they pushed forward to kill off any hope for Luton. When presented with an opportunity, Tawio Awoniyi could only shoot tamely straight at Kaminski.
-The away side remained in the game but showed no sign of getting back into it. They were forced into two early substitutions, with Zack Nelson and Mohamed Lamine Fanne having to depart due to injuries. Luton had not beaten higher-league opposition since beating Portsmouth in 2017 but couldn’t sustain any pressure on Forest.
Sosa put the contest beyond doubt as his close-range finish all but confirmed the home side’s place in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Yates played a through ball to Jota Silva who found the goalscorer with a precise cross to finish with ease.
Luton went on to have their best spell in the game but couldn’t create any clear-cut chances. The closest they came was Jacob Brown shooting straight at Miguel when going past Ward-Prowse.
Surpriseingly Nuno threw on some of his main starters such as Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The latter nearly added a third with an outstanding curling effort that landed on the roof of Kaminski’s goal.
Carlton Morris nearly added a late consolation to make the last few minutes interesting as his header was parried by Miguel who was unbeatable. In the end, Forest comfortably saw out a noneventful FA Cup tie with a straightforward passage to the next round.
As Luton didn’t score, this made it five consecutive clean sheets for the Tricky Trees in all competitions. This kind of record alongside having key players rested set them up for Tuesday’s clash with league leaders Liverpool perfectly.
Meanwhile Luton will now focus on reigniting their season as they sit 20th in the Championship table. They will be hopeful to replace Rob Edwards swiftly but an injection of confidence is needed for thasatters. ,ofswiftly, but the Hatters need an
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Man of the match- Ramon Sosa
Forest have a well knitted starting lineup that will be difficult to break into. In particular the forward areas are all covered with quality through the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga.
Therefore the performance from Ramon Sosa will be encouraging as it proves that Forest has squad depth to cover any injuries. The Paraguay international was a livewire all game as he drove at Luton’s backline on every occasion.
The goal and assists will increase his confidence and shows the 25-year-old can goal contribution numbers to his game. Sosa will need to use the FA Cup as a opportunity to give Nuno a selection headache by demonstrating his quality.
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