Championship strugglers Blackpool lived up to their illustrious FA Cup history as they humbled a Nottingham Forest team branded “unacceptable” by their manager Steve Cooper.
Sitting in the relegation zone, Michael Appleton’s Seasiders took full advantage of Forest’s 11 changes to record their first victory in 10 matches in emphatic fashion.
They took the lead through Marvin Ekpiteta, survived a Forest onslaught which saw Emmanuel Dennis hit the crossbar, and then strike in the last quarter through Leeds loanee Ivan Poveda, CJ Hamilton and top scorer Jerry Yates before Ryan Yates’ worthless consolation for the visitors.
Marvin Ekpiteta (right) is congratulated after putting Blackpool in front at Bloomfield Road
Ian Poveda punches the air after scoring Blackpool’s second goal against Nottingham Forest
There are reminders everywhere at Bloomfield Road of the legendary Stanley Matthews Final from 70 years ago and Appleton’s class of ’23 did the club proud.
‘I’ve been on good cup runs before and I think they can do wonders for the club,’ said the proud manager afterwards.
‘To get a result and performance like today can create momentum and it will do the players a world of good.
‘We knew we’d need Max (goalkeeper Chris Maxwell) to have to make saves and for us to be clinical in front of goal but we ticked all the boxes.’
Cooper was deflated even though this game was sandwiched between a key win at Southampton which lifted Forest out of the Premier League bottom three and Wednesday’s EFL Cup quarter-final against Wolves.
‘It was unacceptable. We’ve got to make it never happens again, he fumed. ‘This team was more than strong enough to do well. We gave the game up too early because even at 2-0 we were still the dominant team.
‘We shouldn’t forget this too quickly. I won’t. It’s a lesson that you can’t just turn things on and off – I hate that. I am as disappointed by the chances we
Blackpool made only two changes from their previous league game and not surprisingly started the more fluid and led after 17 minutes.
Hamilton got the better of Jack Colback and from his cross Shane Lavery shot into the path of Ekpiteta who diverted in.
It was the combative defender’s second goal of the season to match his two red cards.
Though it was effectively a Forest reserve team, they still had plenty of individual quality on show.
Dennis hit the woodwork with a spectacular effort from the edge of the box and Brazilian new boy Gustavo Scarpa, making his first start for the club, tested Maxwell before Sam Surridge hit the side netting.
Maxwell kept his team ahead at the interval when he dived left to keep out Neco Williams and then the ‘keeper made another key intervention early in the second half.
CJ Hamilton (left) celebrates with Poveda after netting Blackpool’s third goal of the game
Scarpa set up Dennis but the £25million forward was denied by Maxwell’s boot when clean through. From the follow-up, Lewis O’Brien’s shot was goalbound until Ekpiteta made a heroic block.
Having weathered the storm, Appleton sent on Yates and it had an immediate effect.
After 64 minutes, a loose pass by Williams was snaffled by the substitute who crossed for Poveda. He took a couple of touches to control and then steered his finish past Wayne Hennessey.
The contest was effectively settled after 71 minutes when another substitute Kenny Dougall fed Hamilton and he drilled home emphatically into the bottom corner from 12 yards.
Forest were in shock and Yates delivered the final coup de gras when he headed in Poveda’s cross from a short corner after 87 minutes for his 10th goal of the season. Most Forest fans had left by the time their Yates, Ryan, grabbed a consolation in injury-time by heading in Harry Toffolo’s cross.
Jerry Yates wrapped up an emphatic win for Blackpool as he scored their fourth goal
It will have been a miserable trip back to the east Midlands both for the team and their 3,000 travelling fans who noisily backed their team until leaving en masse at 3-0.
Cooper didn’t hold back to his players. ‘I’ve said to them the individual mistakes for the goals we conceded are unacceptable – and equally so were the missed chances.
“Apart from Dennis’, we’ve not even hit the target. They were absolutely clearcut chances.
‘The mistakes for the goals were terrible. We didn’t fight enough to be back into the game.’
‘I won’t even say we’ve got to learn from it, because that’s like saying today was okay, and it’s not.’
Emmanuel Dennis hit the bar for Forest as they were made to pay for their wasteful finishing
Steve Cooper may regret making 11 changes as his team crashed out of the FA Cup