Neither Steve Cooper nor Thomas Frank were happy with the match officials after this draw. The former – Nottingham Forest’s manager – felt his team should not have been reduced to 10 men and the other was upset that his side were not awarded a penalty, to ramp up the pressure on referees after failings on Saturday.
Moussa Niakhaté kicked off nine minutes of drama on an otherwise sedate occasion when he was given a second yellow card for raking his studs down Yoane Wissa’s calf. This was soon followed by Christian Nørgaard and Nico Domínguez exchanging headed goals to ensure a fair draw.
Wissa was earlier at the heart of another controversial moment when he was brought down in the box after dispossessing goalkeeper Matt Turner but nothing was given on the pitch nor by the video referees. There were also two potential handball offences by Forest in the first half which were waved away. “I am tired of talking about it [VAR],” Frank, Brentford’s manager, said.
“I think the two handballs, some managers will claim them as penalties but if they were given against my team, I’d be annoyed. I think the Wissa one is a clear penalty, you can’t go through the back. That is an error from VAR – it is clear and obvious. Maybe our players need to be a bit more nasty [with officials].”
For 52 minutes, prior to Wissa and Turner’s clash, anyone in attendance could have been forgiven for thinking they had arrived for an end-of-season clash with nothing on the line for either team. It took until first-half injury time for either goalkeeper to be forced into a save after a flat start amid a constant downpour.
Niakhaté’s first bookable challenge was reckless on Mathias Jensen, taking him out on the left flank and the back of Wissa’s leg will testify to the second. The defender’s dismissal was followed by Nørgaard flicking home, via Turner’s hands, Jensen’s perfectly weighted cross from the resulting free-kick.
“If he doesn’t give him a second yellow, nobody mentions it,” Cooper said. “With it being the only Premier League game of the day, PGMOL needed a really clean day and they got the opposite. We want to help referees – we will moan and complain as much as anyone else, we will do it respectfully but sometimes it’s hard. They’ve got to help themselves. I am annoyed with the first yellow, he shouldn’t have lunged in, it is the right decision. The second yellow, it would have not been mentioned if he had just given a free-kick. You need football understanding to know that [it was accidental]. It is a contact game.”
Minus a player and down a goal, Forest could have been forgiven for taking time to compose themselves. Substitutions were quickly made to reorganise a side one short in defence, bringing on Harry Toffolo for his first Premier League minutes of the season. Rather than being rusty, he sent in his own pinpoint cross for Domínguez to loop over Mark Flekken, which Frank described as a “freak goal”, although less generous critics might question the goalkeeper’s positioning.
Despite having a man fewer for 46 minutes, thanks to lengthy second-half stoppage time, Forest ended the match with two strikers on the pitch as they felt they could steal a win at a raucous City Ground. Neither Chris Wood nor Divock Origi could be the hero; instead they had the 21-year-old debutant Murillo to thank, as he stepped behind Turner to repel Michael Olakigbe’s added-time shot that beat the goalkeeper but not the Brazilian, who impressed on his first outing in red.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Forest had enjoyed the better of the first quarter of the match, with Ibrahim Sangaré giving a greater indication why Cooper has spent two seasons chasing the midfielder. He looked composed, skilful and his physical presence saw opponents bounce off him when required. His efforts alongside Domínguez and Orel Mangala explained why Morgan Gibbs-White was left out as the manager looked to control midfield.
Taiwo Awoniyi had a goal rightly chalked off for offside but the only meaningful action of the first half was Niakhaté’s booking. Thankfully, the second brought some action to appease the spectators.
Forest will be pleased that their new signings are settling quicker than last season and Brentford can at least point to ending their run of defeats, even if they have not won in five Premier League matches.
