Nottingham Forest 2-2 Blackpool: League One side force FA Cup third-round replay

Gonzalo Montiel has climbed football’s highest peak with the world’s greatest player but there is nothing like the FA Cup to bring you back to Earth.

Montiel’s two first-half howlers looked like giving League One Blackpool a famous win and although Nottingham Forest fought back to earn a replay thanks to goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White, it was still a day to forget for the Argentina star.

In the 2022 World Cup Final, Montiel scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out to help Lionel Messi lift the trophy for the first time. Here, his errors allowed two slightly more obscure players – Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel and Albie Morgan – to give the Seasiders a fighting chance of progressing to round four.

And this was quite a feather in their cap. Forest had beaten Newcastle and Manchester United in their last two matches and Nuno Espirito Santo picked a strong team here, which certainly should have been good enough to sink a third-tier side.

In the early stages Blackpool were happy to sit back and Forest did little to put them off their stride. Only in the 23rd minute did Forest start to stretch their opponents as Chris Wood collected Morgan Gibbs-White’s lofted pass but shot over when he should have hit the target.

Then Gibbs-White’s effort from the edge of the box was saved comfortably and Blackpool quickly took a surprise lead. Montiel’s attempted clearance from Karamoko Dembele’s cross was dreadful and Lawrence-Gabriel took advantage with a powerful header.

The defender then refused to celebrate – which seemed unusual as he played only five times for Forest and left nearly three years ago. But his team-mates were delighted and two minutes later they were happier still.

Veteran forward Jordan Rhodes won an aerial