RODGERS AND OUT
Nottingham Forest 4 Leicester 1: Forest produce another stunning FA Cup upset as they dump out dismal holders
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STEVE COOPER'S Nottingham Forest ripped the FA Cup away from Brendan Rodgers' feeble Foxes as they sent the holders crashing out of the competition.
It's been eight seasons since these East Midlands rivals last met and Leicester must hope it will be just as long before they return to the City Ground after they were humiliated by the Championship upstarts.
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Forest stunned even their own delirious fans as they blitzed Leicester with three goals in nine chaotic first half minutes to reach the fifth round for only the second time in 17 years.
On a day to savour for the home fans, Philip Zinckernagel, Brennan Johnson and captain Joe Worrall crushed Leicester, who thought they had grabbed a lifeline when a Brice Samba blunder allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to reduce their lead.
But there was to be no heroic comeback and Djed Spence announced Forest's return as a force to be feared when he added a fourth after the hour mark.
Sadly, one idiot aimed a punch at Forest striker Keinan Davis, which will lead to an FA investigation.
But nothing should be allowed to tarnish this triumph for Cooper and his players - who will now host Huddersfield in the fifth round.
Something is stirring in the Forest and Leicester happened to be the unfortunate victims who stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Cooper's team came into this long-awaited showdown brimming with confidence, desperate to rattle the cage of their noisy neighbours and dump them from the competition they won last season.
Bottom of the Championship when the Welshman took over in September, they have suddenly woken from their slumbers and are steaming towards the play-offs after climbing 16 places to eighth.
Forest had won seven of their last 10 games in all competitions and took care of Arsenal in the last round.
So the holders couldn't say they weren't warned when they entered enemy territory.
Perhaps they were lulled into a false sense of security because this derby started routinely enough for the defending cup holders.
James Maddison cut a cute corner back for Ademola Lookman whose first time shot smashed off a defender and flew just wide.
Then Harvey Barnes flashed a low cross across the face of the Forest goal which Lookman just failed to reach as he slid in at the back post.
However, Forest then took this derby by the scruff of the neck as Spence exposed Leicester's left flank and Johnson picked holes in Rodgers' porous defence.
But it was on-loan Aston Villa striker Davies who frightened the life out of the Foxes and hounded them out of the competition.
He lifted the City Ground after 19 minutes when he cushioned a Johnson delivery on his chest in mid-air, before unleashing a ferocious volley which crashed off the junction of Danny Ward's crossbar and post.
If Leicester thought that was a let-off they were in for a rude awakening as a pumped up Forest took the lead four minutes later.
Johnson combined with Spence and then swung in a cross which Davies rose to nod into the path of Zinckernagel.
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And the on-loan Watford midfielder knocked the loose ball past Ward with his shin, just below his knee.
It wasn't the classiest finish but it sent the Forest fans into a frenzy.
Incredibly, 87 seconds later Ward was picking the ball out of his net again as Leicester crumbled.
Daniel Amartey was pressured out near his own corner flag and panicked to send a blind pass in the general direction of his keeper.
Johnson had anticipated it and nipped in to intercept before calmly beating Ward with a cheeky nutmeg to double Forest's advantage.
Leicester were imploding and Ryan Yates almost added a third when he mistimed his attempt to head James Garner's corner and the ball flew off his back with the goal at his mercy.
However, the Foxes simply can't defend corners and when Garner swept in another corner a minute later boyhood Forest fan Worrall wanted the ball more than anyone else and powered in a header.
Ward got his fingers to it but only succeeded in deflecting it beyond Youri Tielemans to wreck any chance he had of clearing it off the line.
Forest were in dreamland.
Unfortunately, one moron was in La La Land as he emerged from the away end and sprinted to the celebrating Forest players and appeared to land a punch at Davis before stewards raced to huckle him away.
Even Cooper seemed stunned at how his side had cruised into a seemingly unassailable lead as he calmly waved a right fist into the air in a low-key celebration.
Rodgers, in contrast, looked as if he could throttle his entire team.
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Ward prevented more damage, using his legs to deny Spence before Forest keeper Samba had a rush of blood to his head to add to the general chaos.
He raced out of his box to try and clear a Maddison through ball when he had two defenders better equipped to deal with it.
And Kelechi Iheanacho nipped in to brilliantly rob him before expertly steering the ball into an empty net to register his 15th goal in 20 FA Cup ties.
Rodgers sent on striker Patson Daka for Barnes at the break and went to a 3-5-2 formation to try and salvage something.
However, Forest were rampant and Spence capped a brilliant performance when he added a fourth just beyond the hour to finally put Leicester out of their misery as he killed any prospect of a comeback.
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Leicester were slow to react to a throw on the right and the on-loan Boro wing-back exchanged passes with Zinckernagel before slotting the ball beyond Ward.
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Forest fans taunted Rodgers and told him he was being sacked in the morning.
You suspect a few of them may not make it to work themselves after one of their best results in recent memory.
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