Brighton narrowly lost in a nail-biting FA Cup quarter-final, succumbing to Nottingham Forest on penalties after two goalless hours on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s event carried immense pressure leading to a sluggish 90 minutes. Nottingham Forest hasn’t claimed the FA Cup in 66 years — the last time they reached the final, Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler hadn’t yet been born. The Seagulls are still in pursuit of their first win in the oldest cup competition.

The first half was remarkably uneventful, with both teams producing just four shots. Forest had previously led 3-0 by halftime when Brighton visited the City Ground in February, eventually scoring seven unanswered goals in what turned out to be a fateful encounter for the visitors.

Hurzeler set the notebook he had used to plan for that fixture on fire in a slightly cultish ceremony in front of his squad after that defeat. The controlled burn sparked a hot streak for Brighton, who bounded into Saturday’s quarter-final on the back of six wins from their last seven games.

Forest have been less convincing over the intervening eight weeks and lined up at the Amex without a fleet of regular starters. It showed. In the absence of top scorer Chris Wood, the visitors didn’t offer a great deal of attacking threat, but managed to muzzle their hosts with a typically organised setup, dispensing with any attacking width to stuff the middle of the pitch with as many red shirts as the laws of the game permitted.

The stitching of both sides belatedly began to loosen in the second half, with Brighton growing into the ascendancy. However, it was Forest who won a penalty shortly after the hour-mark as Elliot Anderson tumbled over a sliding tackle from Kaoru Mitoma. After a VAR consultation, on-pitch referee Peter Bankes adjudged that Anderson had initiated the contact.

An air of hesitancy and angst was riddled throughout the entirety of the contest, which crawled into extra time with the game still resolutely goalless.

Brighton substitute Diego Gomez forced an impressive stop from Forest’s in-form Matz Sels and Joao Pedro had a late tap-in rightly ruled out for a clear offside, but a penalty shootout felt all but inevitable long before Bankes blew his whistle.

Gomez proved to be just as wasteful in the shootout. After consecutive misses from his teammate Jack Hinshelwood and Forest’s Neco Williams, Brighton’s winter recruit blasted his powerful effort straight onto Sels’ glove. Ryan Yates held his nerve, sending the ball squirming through Bart Verbruggen’s clutches to send Forest into the semi-finals.

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Thomas McGill (GK), Charlie Tasker, Eiran Cashin, Matthew O’Riley.

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Carlos Miguel (GK), Alex Moreno, Harry Toffolo, Willy Boly, Ibrahim Sangare.