What Nuno Espirito Santo was spotted doing as Nottingham Forest beat Exeter on penalties speaks volumes

Nottingham Forest scraped past League One outfit Exeter City last night to reach the FA Cup fifth round via a penalty shootout.

Forest were behind early doors when Josh Magennis capitalised on some drab goalkeeping from Carlos Miguel. However, the Reds rallied and led on 37 minutes after Taiwo Awoniyi had added to a goal from Ramon Sosa earlier on.

The game was marred a little bit after Awoniyi was stretchered off late in the piece. However, it would appear as though the Forest man is okay and returned to Nottingham with his teammates after the penalty shootout victory.

Forest scored all four of their penalties. Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson and Neco Williams all kept their cool with the four substitutes ultimately coming up trumps to spare the blushes of the Reds.

Nuno Espirito Santo needed to call upon some of his star players. Unlike Liverpool boss Arne Slot at Plymouth on Sunday, Forest did have their top players to call upon and it was a good job that decision was made in the end.

What Nuno Espirito Santo did as Nottingham Forest took penalties

If anyone needed an indication as to how the boss felt after needing penalties, a glance towards him whilst the shootout was ongoing was all that was needed.

Espirito Santo sat looking pretty disgusted in the dugout whilst the rest of his coaching staff stood in the stereotypical penalty shootout position on the touchline.

With Forest having to play their FA Cup tie on a Tuesday it now means there is a very short turnaround before Saturday’s game against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Espirito Santo knows that needing his star players is far from ideal. Indeed, it was quite fascinating to see just how annoyed he looked despite his team remaining cool from the spot and progressing to the next stage.