Nottingham Forest were very fortunate to knock Exeter City out of the FA Cup and set up a last-16 tie against Ipswich Town on home soil.
The Reds fell behind early doors when a Carlos Miguel mistake gave Josh Magennis a simple tap-in. Forest did rally though and led at half-time thanks to goals from Ramon Sosa and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Exeter weren’t done, however, and drew level shortly after the break when Magennis bagged his second to restore parity. That was how the game stayed after 120 minutes before a 4-2 win for Forest on penalties.
The game was marred a little bit by a bad injury to a Forest player. However, Taiwo Awoniyi did manage to walk back to the dressing room unaided after a serious collision with Exeter goalkeeper Joe Whitworth.
There were some really poor performances, however, and despite going through eventually, some players will be extremely out of order to go knocking on the head coach’s door any time soon.
Nottingham Forest fans react to performance of Jota Silva
This should have been a big night for Jota Silva who was handed a rare start. However, he was abject throughout and has come in for some criticism from the Forest fan base.
Another fan was really disgruntled and added: “He is so bad…like playing with 10 men all night, he offers nothing, he is mardy and lazy.”
A final fan has thrown another player in the mix as someone is better than Silva, saying: “Sosa looks a better player.”
Jota Silva stats vs Exeter during FA Cup clash
These do not make good reading from Silva’s perspective. He was largely frustrating throughout the contest and failed to adapt to the environment of playing at a League One club.
Furthermore, he missed a complete sitter with the last kick of the game that would have spared Forest’s blushes without needing a penalty shootout to edge through.
Silva has to sort himself out going forward. He was so wasteful in possession that it was borderline embarrassing at times and it’s a complete mystery he stayed on for the entire match.
Thankfully, Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t summon Anthony Elanga from the bench and as a result, he will be fresh and ready to play on Saturday against Fulham.
