Gvardiol quashes luckless Forest's romantic script

It was a day when the FA Cup romantics could see the script for Nuno Espirito Santo and Nottingham Forest, something to further embellish the manager's hero status and the club's finest season in at least 30 years.

- David Hytner

It was one when Manchester City refused to entertain it.

City led from the second minute through Rico Lewis's second goal of the season and when Josko Gvardiol thumped home a header shortly after a glaring miss by Anthony Elanga, it felt over. That Forest were repeatedly on the wrong side of the finest of margins thereafter only deepened their pain.

Three times they rattled the woodwork and when Taiwo Awoniyi completed the unhappy hat-trick towards the end, Forest knew it was not to be their day. Morgan Gibbs-White was denied twice by the frame of the goal - the first after a volley with his weaker left foot; the second from a tight angle when he looked to have enough of an empty net to aim for.

It meant that City advanced from their seventh FA Cup semi-final in a row into a third successive final; they will play Crystal Palace on 17 May. Like Forest, their attention will turn towards securing a top-five Premier League finish and Champions League qualification. Pep Guardiola, though, is close to his 19th trophy at City. It would not make up for a deeply underwhelming season. But it would certainly be something.