Forest go from bottom of Championship to one win from Premier League return

But they were made to sweat at the City Ground as the visitors did brilliantly to come back from behind and take the tie to extra-time and the dreaded shootout.

The tie appeared to have been put to bed when Brennan Johnson opened the scoring on 19 minutes to put Forest 3-1 up, while the away side lost their cool.

A mass brawl was sparked after Paul Heckingbottom shoved the ball into the lower part of Forest defender Djed Spence's stomach - Heckingbottom receiving a yellow card for the offence.

But Heckingbottom's men were a different team after the break and levelled on the night through Morgan Gibbs-White's classy finish.

And they took the tie to extra time thanks to John Fleck's strike from close range.

Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba made a crucial save to deny the visitors in the closing stages of extra-time.

It was Samba who proved to be the hero as he saved spot-kicks from Oliver Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Gibbs-White to seal a 3-2 win in the shootout.

Forest, who were bottom of the Championship when Steve Cooper took over in September, will face Huddersfield in the play-off final at Wembley on May 29.