Steve Crossman

And it wasn't just that, it was the players.

in claret and blue shirts tonight they put a proper shift in tonight's team they did everything correct to a man i said to you before the game when you're in a position like this you look at yourself and you go i need to do my job and those villa players did their job tonight to a man

I think it was within five minutes of getting here, Nick, that you really kind of got the feeling that Aston Villa fans are going to give absolutely everything.

And obviously Forest fans did as well.

And the atmosphere at the city ground for the first leg was extraordinary.

Mull of Kintyre, it sounded absolutely glorious.

But just here tonight, I think the Villa fans have to take a huge amount of credit for creating this almost storm that the Forest players had to walk into.

It was an absolute cauldron, wasn't it?

I thought it was really interesting, the start, before everything really, really kicked off, before the fans really got into the stadium.

There were a few, but it was very relaxed.

You know, it might have been quiet, but there was just this sort of calmness over it.

We saw the owners, they were down pitch side, they were talking to Damian Vidigani, the head of football here, and...

Once it clicked for Villa on the pitch, it goes into the stands and vice versa.

They drove them on tonight and there was nothing from the fans to suggest that there was going to be any anxiety.

It might have taken them a little while to get that goal, but it was coming.

And realistically, there was nothing Forest could do about it tonight.

Ian Dennis, I've waited to bring you back into the conversation because you were scribbling away, and it just made me think, what on earth do you write to try and sum up a night like this in like 20 to 30 seconds, which you'll have to do for the news bulletins?

Well, I don't know, it's very hard.

I mean, if you've got somebody like Ian Taylor, who's in tears behind us, you know, this is, said at the final whistle, the long wait is over.

You know, generations of Villa supporters have been dreaming of this.