PIERCE SWEENEY IS THE CLUB CAPTAIN OF EXETER CITY FC

What a fantastic occasion the FA Cup fourth round tie against Nottingham Forest at St James’s Park turned out to be.

Of course, it was desperately disappointing to lose out on penalties, having gone so close to pulling off a shock victory against the Premier League highflyers.

However, I thought we acquitted ourselves fantastically and that everyone connected with the club should take great pride in our performance.

Certainly, we didn’t show the visitors too much respect, and started the game really positively – going ahead when their keeper, Carlos Miguel, gifted Josh Magennis a goal inside the opening five minutes.

While I’m sure the Brazilian will wince when he watches the replays, credit must go to Demetri Mitchell for recycling the ball, and to Josh for being in the right place at the right time to prod the ball home when the Miguel failed to deal with it.

Forest came on strong for the remainder of the first half, Ramon Sosa equalizing in the 15th minute, and Taiwo Awoniyi firing them ahead with an exquisite finish some seven or eight minutes before the interval.

At that point, it looked as if the game might be getting away from us. However, I always thought that if we could get through to half-time just a goal behind, anything could happen with us attacking the big bank in the second half, and so it proved.

Josh fired us level when the ball fell to him from a corner shortly after the restart and from thereon in I thought we went toe to toe with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. Even after we went down to 10 men when Ed Turns was sent........

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