Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom speaks of pride after Nottingham Forest penalty shootout heartbreak

The Blades clawed back a two-goal deficit in the tie after Forest earned a 1-0 half-time lead – and 3-1 lead overall – through Brennan Johnson’s early effort at the City Ground.

Goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and John Fleck gave Sheffield United a 2-1 win on the night and took the tie into sudden death before Forest progressed 3-2 on penalties.

“The overriding feeling is one of pride,” said Heckingbottom.

"I think as I’m talking it’s hitting home that we are out.

"I didn’t believe we would be out, I thought we would go all the way."

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Ollie Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White saw their penalty kicks saved by Brice Samba in the Nottingham Forest goal.

Heckingbottom added: "Right now I’m proud of the players for a huge performance one to 11, the boys who came on, just as it’s been all season.

"The boys who were injured came down to support. Every result we’ve got, we’ve got together and this defeat we will take together.

"People said we were out, we didn’t think (we were). I honestly thought we would win it, even at half time.”

He continued: "We needed to fight, we needed to show some fight.

"We were good, we came to a tough place, against a team that’s competing now to get into the Premier League, and dominated the game.

"But we have not gone through, so it’s sort of irrelevant.”