Awoniyi, who started in place of Chris Wood, scored in the 37th minute to put Forest 2-1 ahead, but the League One club pegged back the title contenders once more.

The City Ground inhabitants won 4-2 on penalties to progress to the next round, where they will face Premier League opponents Ipswich Town.

Santo changed 10 of his first-team players for the clash, retaining goalkeeper Matz Sels and was questioned about this decision after labouring for the win against a lower-league team.

The manager, speaking after the match, as quoted by Sun UK, explained why he benched key players, including Ola Aina, Chris Wood and others, and admitted he could do it again.

“It’s not about resting [players], it’s about how we are approaching the competition. We did the same at Luton, and we’re going to probably do the same [again] because, unfortunately, we cannot give minutes to all the players,” he said.

“So this is a reward for all the players that worked so hard, the young boys. It’s good for us. It’s not resting players. It’s taking care of all the squad. The FA Cup is very hard and just look at the draws that came.

“A lot of surprises will happen. We just have to do our job. It’s going to be at the City Ground [the match with Ipswich], and we’re going to be ready,”

Up next for Nottingham is a trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham, and Ola Aina will have the responsibility of stopping his compatriot and friend Alex Iwobi.

The former FC Porto goalkeeper also provided an update on Awoniyi, who left the match in the first half on a stretcher, claiming he suffered a concussion and a broken nose, but is fine now.

It was not the first time the former FIFA U17 World Cup winner had suffered a concussion in his career. He had one during his time in the German Bundesliga when he clashed with Mainz 05's Felix Udokhai.

Legit.ng previously reported that Nottingham Forest slammed Manchester City after the Premier League champions went public with their interest in Ola Aina.

Pep Guardiola's City attempted to sign the former Chelsea academy in January to replace the departing Kyle Walker, who joined Italian Serie A side AC Milan.

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Source: Legit.ng