Nottingham Forest 2-2 Blackpool: League One side force FA Cup third-round replay against Nuno Espirito Santo’s hosts after four-goal thriller at City Ground

Gonzalo Montiel has climbed football’s highest peak with the world’s greatest player but there is nothing like the FA Cup to bring you back to Earth.

Montiel’s two first-half howlers looked like giving League One Blackpool a famous win and although Nottingham Forest fought back to earn a replay thanks to goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White, it was still a day to forget for the Argentina star.

In the 2022 World Cup Final, Montiel scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out to help Lionel Messi lift the trophy for the first time. Here, his errors allowed two slightly more obscure players – Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel and Albie Morgan – to give the Seasiders a fighting chance of progressing to round four.

And this was quite a feather in their cap. Forest had beaten Newcastle and Manchester United in their last two matches and Nuno Espirito Santo picked a strong team here, which certainly should have been good enough to sink a third-tier side.

In the early stages Blackpool were happy to sit back and Forest did little to put them off their stride. Only in the 23rd minute did Forest start to stretch their opponents as Chris Wood collected Morgan Gibbs-White’s lofted pass but shot over when he should have hit the target.

Morgan Gibbs-White (L) scored to keep his side’s hopes in the competition alive

The forward struck Forest’s second goal of the game from outside the box in the second-half

Blackpool had taken a shock lead in the match after goals from Albie Morgan and Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel

Then Gibbs-White’s effort from the edge of the box was saved comfortably and Blackpool quickly took a surprise lead. Montiel’s attempted clearance from Karamoko Dembele’s cross was dreadful and Lawrence-Gabriel took advantage with a powerful header.

The defender then refused to celebrate – which seemed unusual as he played only five times for Forest and left nearly three years ago. But his team-mates were delighted and two minutes later they were happier still.

Veteran forward Jordan Rhodes won an aerial duel on halfway and sent CJ Hamilton scurrying into Forest territory. His low cross caught Montiel on his heels and Morgan drilled home off the post.

The home side were stunned and their fans grumpy. There were groans at Forest’s pedestrian build-up and when Ryan Yates headed Gibbs-White’s free-kick over, it did nothing to improve the mood.

At fault for the first two goals, Montiel partly made up for his mistakes by creating Forest’s first. Wood laid off Gibbs-White’s pass into his path and Montiel clipped in a cross which was met with his a strong downward header by his fellow Argentine Dominguez.

Wood should have squared the match just before half-time but he guided Gibbs-White’s excellent pass wide, and then soon after the restart Dominguez was close to a second as he headed Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross just over.

Yet Forest were level in the 56th minute and it was a goal to remember from Gibbs-White, who collected Hudson-Odoi’s pass and struck sweetly into the top corner from 20 yards.

Forest were finding rhythm now as Blackpool tired. Their goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw could do little about the goals but he produced a sensational point-blank stop to prevent Ryan Yates’ completing Forest’s comeback with a close-range header from Danilo’s cross. 

Then Nuno Tavares – who had replaced Harry Toffolo at half-time – fired narrowly over after neat work between Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi. 

The two sides will do battle once again at Bloomfield Road after their draw at the City Ground

Hudson-Odoi had been much more dangerous since switching to the left and both Wood and substitute Neco Williams nearly benefited as Blackpool became increasingly desperate.

Hudson-Odoi tried to do it by himself by shaking off Lawrence-Gabriel and testing Grimshaw from 15 yards, producing another tidy stop from the Blackpool keeper. 

Yet the visitors could have won it in stoppage time when sub Kyle Joseph created shooting space only to attempt a pass instead and the chance was lost. 

It nearly cost Blackpool when Hudson-Odoi steered across goal and Wood was a whisker away from clinching the win.