EXETER: Premier League high-fliers Nottingham Forest struggled past 10-man Exeter City on penalties to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup after being held 2-2 by their third tier opponents.

Chris Wood, Morgan GibbsWhite and Elliot Anderson all scored from the spot before fellow substitute Neco Williamswrapped up a marathon tie with the final kick of the contest at 23:03 GMT.

Josh Magennis and Tony Yogane were on target for thirdtier Exeter, but substitute goalkeeper Matz Sels saved Reece Cole`s poor penalty and Angus MacDonald struck the crossbar as Forest prevailed 4-2.

Forest, who had started thenight with a second-string side at St James Park, will now host top flight rivals Ipswich in the last 16 in March.

Magennis scored twice for Exeter during normal time, giving the League one side an early lead, and then equalising at the start of the second period.

Ramon Sosa and Taiwo Awoniyi, who left the action instoppage time on a stretcher after being attended to by medics for a long period, scored for Forest, third in the Premier League.

Exeter debutant Ed Turns was handed a red card for a thigh-high challenge on GibbsWhite three minutes from time, but Forest had to settle for an extra 30 minutes after JotaSilva thundered a shot against the crossbar.

`It was a hard game, we had a lot of setbacks,` a relieved Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo told ITV television. `I think we started the game in a bad way but the response was good. It was tough but happy in the end that we are going through.`-Agencies