Pain for Postecoglou as Swansea stun Nottingham Forest with late turnaround

Cameron Burgess’s 97th-minute winner completed Swansea’s fightback from two goals down and added to a tough start at Forest for Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou, hands rooted in pockets, was still shaking his head in disbelief as he walked on to the pitch at the final whistle with What a Beautiful Day, an unofficial anthem in these parts, blaring over the speakers.

Swansea had just completed an incomprehensible comeback to advance to the Carabao Cup fourth round at Nottingham Forest’s expense, the hosts scoring twice in the final four minutes of second-half stoppage time.

Igor Jesus registered his first Forest goals to earn a two-goal half-time lead but Postecoglou will have to wait for his first victory in charge.

Postecoglou appeared to take accountability for the collapse, pointing towards himself as he headed to acknowledge the away fans trying to make sense of a wild finale. “We put them through a tough night,” the Australian said.

“We are out of a cup competition we should have progressed in. I sensed the players thought it was going to happen automatically. We should have been a lot more prepared for what was going to come and handled it a lot better.”

Until Zan Vipotnik, on as a substitute for Swansea, equalised in the 93rd minute – the Slovenia striker converting Liam Cullen’s cross for his fifth goal in his past five matches – it seemed that Postecoglou would chalk up his first win as Forest head coach, in filthy conditions and contrasting surrounds to Bilbao in May. Suddenly the promise from four debutants, including Douglas Luiz and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and five players making their first starts was superseded.

Had Postecoglou really missed this? Forest were stunned when Vipotnik levelled and staggered when Swansea’s captain, Cameron Burgess, scored his second goal in style. Ethan Galbraith, the impressive Northern Ireland midfielder who signed from Leyton Orient in the summer, cracked a shot against the upright from 25 yards after a corner was cleared to the edge of the box and Burgess thumped in the rebound, his unerring strike sparking delirium in the stands.

“I had Malick Yalcouyé jumping on my back but I was quite calm,” Alan Sheehan, the Swansea head coach, said. “I was looking at the clock because with 30 seconds left they are a team that can put the ball in the top corner.”

Things looked ominous for the Championship side when, trailing by two first-half goals on the hour, Postecoglou introduced Morgan Gibbs-White, a former Swansea loanee, and Callum Hudson‑Odoi but Burgess pulled a goal back eight minutes later, heading in Eom Ji-sung’s corner.

The Swansea goalkeeper, Andy Fisher, made a big save to thwart Hudson-Odoi after another substitute, Arnaud Kalimuendo, pinched possession high but, while Forest wasted chances to seal victory, the game did not peter as they anticipated.

“We are going to have to earn everything we get, it’s not just going to come to us,” said Postecoglou , whose side visit Burnley on Saturday. “I felt we thought it would naturally just pan out that we would win the game and go through, but it’s not how football works.”