Steve Cooper
Head coach Steve Cooper was delighted to give Nottingham Forest fans a night to remember as the Reds progressed to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. Forest are in the last-four of the competition for the first time since 1992 – a tournament they have won four times and finished runners-up in twice. They will now battle Manchester United over two legs to reach the Wembley final. They needed penalties to see off Wolverhampton Wanderers at the City Ground, after Raul Jiminez had cancelled out Willy Boly’s opener in the 90 minutes. Dean Henderson had pulled off three superb saves during the game, and he was the hero again in the shootout, thwarting Ruben Neves and Joe Hodge as the hosts triumphed 4-3 on spot-kicks.
Steve Cooper said: “It’s brilliant to get through to the semi-finals for the first time in 31 years. I’m really pleased for the players to get this far and give themselves an opportunity to play in a semi-final against Man Utd. I’m really pleased for our supporters. It’s given our older generation a chance to reminisce, and it’s given our younger generation a chance to enter new territory. That will always be important to me. It’s just another positive message showing the progression the club is, hopefully, trying to make. We know we’ve got a long way to go, and as soon as we leave here the focus is back on the Premier League. But the objective was to get through, and we did. I didn’t love us, if I’m being honest. I didn’t love our performance, but I shouldn’t be too negative on a night like tonight – behind closed doors maybe I can be, because that’s my job and I always want more. I just felt there was a real opportunity to play well tonight, and we didn’t look after the ball. We are a much better football team than what we showed at times. When we did get it right, particularly at the start of the game and a phase in the second half, there was a chance to get through the lines and to get into good positions. But technically, we’ve got to be better than that. I’m not going to lose sight of that, because that’s my job. But we’re in a semi-final and that’s all we wanted tonight.”
