Report | Swansea City 3 Nottingham Forest 2
Swansea City stunned Premier League Nottingham Forest as two stoppage-time goals secured a dramatic and deserved Carabao Cup third-round win at a delirious Swansea.com Stadium.
Facing a Forest side who finished seventh in the top-flight last term – securing European qualification – the Swans were underdogs, but you would not have known it from the manner of their display.
A brace from Igor Jesus had the visitors two goals to the good at the break, but Cameron Burgess pulled a goal back for the hosts to set up a tense finale.
Then Zan Vipotnik levelled in stoppage time with a well-taken finish and, with the atmosphere at fever pitch, Burgess showed tremendous composure and technique to volley in the winner after Ethan Galbraith's strike from distance had cannoned off the crossbar.
The result extended Swansea's unbeaten run on home soil to 10 games, and they have reached the fourth round for the first time in eight years.
The Swans had shown six changes from the weekend draw with Hull as Andy Fisher, Kaelan Casey, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Manuel Benson, Jisung Eom and Adam Idah all came into the team.
The visitors made 10 changes from their defeat to Arsenal, with only defender Morato keeping his place.
Sheehan had urged his side to embrace the challenge of facing Premier League opposition and they made a high-tempo start, with Eom heavily involved.
The South Korea international had a strike blocked having surged infield in the wake of picking off a loose touch from Nicolo Savona.
Forest did have a spell of pressure around the 11-minute mark with Igor Jesus tricking his way to the byline, but seeing Burgess clear his low cross into the six-yard box.
And they took the lead when Igor Jesus managed to find the net from an acute angle at the far post, after Omari Hutchinson’s shot had been deflected into his path.
Hutchinson had a shot of his own blocked a few seconds later after a lovely move including Ryan Yates and Igor Jesus.
At the other end Eom sent a low drive fizzing just wide of the target with John Victor in the Forest goal scrambling.
Swansea’s energy was causing Forest all sorts of problems and they should have had a penalty on the half hour when Eom’s backheel picked out Malick Yalcouye’s run and Willy Boly brought down the midfielder as he failed to play the ball when stretching for it.
Benson was next to threaten with the home side on top, cutting onto his left foot and sending a low effort into the gloves of Victor.
Swansea were having the better of the contest but they were given a let-off when James McAtee wastefully prodded wide after Dilane Bakwa had driven along the byline and picked out the midfielder’s run.
However, there was no reprieve in first-half stoppage time when McAtee surged into the area and found Hutchinson arriving at the far post, with the winger unselfishly squaring for Igor Jesus to tap in his second of the night and double the Forest lead.
Benson had enjoyed a lively first 45 minutes in Swansea colours, and he lit up the early stages of the second half with a darting, twinkling run from the right flank that just ended with his final pass being cut out after he had stopped on a dime to leave one defender beaten all ends up.
McAtee spooned an effort over at the end of a slick Forest move a few minutes later, although it would not have counted as the offside flag was raised.
The offside flag also denied Arnaud Kalimuendo after he had been played in by a delightful flick from Morgan Gibbs-White.
Swansea responded, a delightful Ethan Galbraith run ending with Yalcouye sending a low skidding shot wide via the aid of a deflection.
But Swansea found the net from the resulting set-piece when Burgess met Galbratih’s deliver to guide a header past Victor and into the net with 22 minutes still to play.
It was end-to-end stuff and Fisher made a tremendous save to deny Callum Hudson-Odoi after the visitors had launched a quickfire counter.
Casey then coolly dealt with a goalbound shot from Yates as he diverted the ball to a nearby white shirt with a minimum of fuss as the final 10 minutes arrived.
Swansea pressed for a leveller and got one when Vipotnik scored for the fifth game in a row, and then Burgess completed the dramatic turnaround to spark wild celebrations.
Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Josh Key, Kaelan Casey, Cameron Burgess (captain), Ishe Samuels-Smith (Josh Tymon 64); Goncalo Franco (Melker Widell 64), Malick Yalcouye (Liam Cullen 86), Ethan Galbraith; Jisung Eom, Manuel Benson (Ronald 64); Adam Idah (Zan Vipotnik 77).
Unused Substitutes: Paul Farman, Ben Cabango, Bobby Wales, Zeidane Inoussa.
Nottingham Forest: John Victor, Morato (Jair Cunha 46), Douglas Luiz (Morgan Gibbs-White 61), Igor Jesus (Arnaud Kalimuendo 46), Omari Hutchinson, Ryan Yates (captain), James McAtee, Dilane Bakwa (Callum Hudson-Odoi 61), Willy Boly, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Nicolo Savona.
Unused Substitutes: Angus Gunn, Ibrahim Sangare, Taiwo Awoniyi, Dan Ndoye, Zach Abbott.
Referee: Robert Madley
Attendance: 11,354