Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS
There will be no fairy tale FA Cup glory at Wembley for New Zealand football captain Chris Wood, and his Notthingham Forest team, who have lost their semi-final 2-0 to Manchester City on Monday.
The final will be City's third in a row, after goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol kept alive City's hopes of avoiding a rare season without a trophy.
Lewis scored inside two minutes when he was fed by the influential Mateo Kovacic and given time and space to fire into the bottom corner and silence the Forest fans.
Conceding an early goal was certainly not in the gameplan for Forest, who struggled to gain a foothold in the first half, registering just 25% possession and no shots on goal.
The halftime introduction of Anthony Elanga almost turned the tie for Forest, but he scuffed Callum Hudson-Odoi's cross wide with his first touch in the 46th minute.
City punished the miss five minutes later when Gvardiol rose highest to nod home an Omar Marmoush corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Forest, seeking to reach their first FA Cup final since 1991, went close to pulling one back with Morgan Gibbs-White cannoning a volley off the bar with City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega beaten.
Gibbs-White hit the post again with 20 minutes to play after Gvardiol was caught in possession, rounding Ortega but unable to finish from a tight angle.
Substitute Taiwo Awoniyi also hit the woodwork before Gibbs-White's follow-up header was saved by Ortega, as Forest fans began to feel it was just not their day.
City then comfortably closed the game out and victory in their record-extending seventh consecutive FA Cup semi-final means they will face Crystal Palace, who beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday, in the final on May 17.
Photo: NIGEL KEENE
Wood, who's scored 19 goals this season, and his Forest teammates, will now sharpen their focus on finishing the Premier League season strongly.
With five games remaining, they're in sixth spot, but just two points behind Newcastle, who're in third.
Liverpool wrapped up the title this morning, after beating Tottenham, 5-1 at Anfield.
- Reuters
