Report: Bristol City 0-0 Nottingham Forest Bristol City FC

A goalless draw sees City earn a Fourth Round replay against Nottingham Forest. City went toe-to-toe with the Premier League side but neither side took their chances.

The hosts dominated the opening exchanges and their first chance fell to Conway who pounced on Ross McCrorie’s cross, but the forward had his effort blocked.

Rob Dickie, Cam Pring and Anis Mehmeti’s intricate combination play created further opportunities and problems for Nottingham Forest.

The visitors sustained a period of high pressure from City and were rewarded on the break with a chance, but Hudson-Odoi saw a shot comfortably saved by O’Leary.

Zak Vyner’s display of trickery in the 17th minute allowed him to skip past a few Forest defenders and slip the ball to Conway who saw his shot blocked.

City’s best chance of the half came in the 24th minute and again fell to Conway who met Mehmeti’s low cross with an off-target half volley.

With the game still level Nottingham Forest pushed for the opener and Ryan Yates’ snapshot inside the area was struck with plenty of power but did not challenge O’Leary.

City’s dominance in wide areas demanded a lot from their Forest counterparts. Yates and Nicolás Dominguez entered Stuart Atwell’s book for challenges on Pring and Mehmeti.

Just before half-time Nuno Espírito Santo’s side nearly took the lead after Chris Wood intercepted the ball on the halfway line and expertly found Hudson-Odoi who set back to Danilo resulting in a fierce shot which struck the side netting.

City finished the half strong with Mehmeti firing a low cross across the box which deflected for a corner. The resulting set piece was attacked by Knight, but his header was inches over.

Santo made two changes at halftime – Morgan Gibbs-White and Neco Williams replacing Yates and Dominguez

Both sides started the second half well with the majority of opportunities coming from wide areas.

Gibbs-White’s cross found Wood, but his header went straight to O’Leary. Moments later George Tanner’s sublime cross evaded everyone at the back post.

Liam Manning made his first change of the game in the 67th minute with Ross McCrorie making way for Sam Bell.

Bell nearly made an instant impact, receiving Knight’s ball in behind he cut inside and shot but his effort was blocked. Forest immediately transitioned into an attack and Gibbs-White drove powerfully down the middle and played in Hudson-Odoi who sliced his shot into the side netting.

Manning made further substitutions in the 78th minute with Nahki Wells and Harry Cornick coming on for Conway and Mehmeti.

With five minutes remaining of the 90, City counter-attacked from Forest’s corner with Harry Cornick running from box to box before squaring to Pring who took his touch past the defender before shooting just wide of the target.

As the game entered additional time, Forest earned a free kick just outside of the area after Gardner-Hickman pulled back Gibbs-White – the Robins midfielder collected a yellow for his troubles. Danilo’s resulting free kick was well high of the City goal.

Despite a valiant effort from both sides, the tie finished goalless at Ashton Gate with a replay fixture set for the week commencing February 5th.

Team: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Dickie, McCrorie (Bell 67′), Pring, James, Gardner-Hickman, Knight, Mehmeti (Cornick 78′), Conway (Wells 78′).

Substitutes not used: Bajic, Knight-Lebel, King, Roberts, Nelson, Backwell

Attendance: 25,787

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City are at home to Leeds United on Friday, February 2nd (8pm).