While Brentford’s fans goaded the opposition with chants of “you’re going down”, those in the away end who had travelled down from the Midlands stood in silent disbelief. For so long, Nottingham Forest had fought resolutely for what looked destined to be a win, and then a draw, that might have proven so important in their quest to maintain Premier League status.
Then, clinging on with only 10 men on the pitch deep into injury time, it was all taken away. Fears once again turn to a future in the Championship, with defeat guaranteed to return Forest to the relegation zone after Everton and Leicester City’s game on Monday.
The crushing blow arrived in two stages, left painfully late for maximum suffering after Danilo had given Forest an unlikely lead late in the first half.
First came a jab from Ivan Toney, who became the first Brentford player in almost a century to score 20 goals in a top-flight season, when he squeezed a free-kick in at the near post, despite Keylor Navas getting a hand to the ball.
That equaliser on 82 minutes would not have totally ruined the away supporters’ day, but Josh Dasilva then delivered the knockout. With Danilo off the pitch injured and Forest defending ever deeper, the Brentford substitute expertly bided his time and curled past the Costa Rican goalkeeper. A long VAR check followed to ascertain whether anyone blocking Navas’ view was doing so from an offside position, but the goal stood.
In a game short of quality and prime chances, it was a result that even the Brentford manager Thomas Frank acknowledged Forest would feel “a little bit hard done by”, extending their atrocious away record this season to just six points and eight goals from 17 games.
“It’s a tough one to take,” said Steve Cooper. “I felt the game would be decided on small margins and decision-making, and that ended up being the case.
“We were comfortable. I know we didn’t have the ball and we didn’t threaten Brentford too much, but I didn’t see us conceding. Unfortunately the decision-making we made around the two goals could cost us.”
On the VAR decision to allow Brentford’s second goal to stand, he added: “It’s something I hope they got right. If they haven’t then it’s obviously a massive call. Let’s allow it to play out but I really hope it was the right call. If it was on a judgement call that would be particularly disappointing.”
A realist would suggest that Brentford’s faint European hopes were ended by a six-game winless streak in recent weeks, but a continental trip is still mathematically possible and Frank’s side seem determined to give their supporters an exciting denouement to the season after their victory over Chelsea in midweek.
There was no shortage of good fortune about this victory though. On the eve of the match, Rico Henry had bemoaned his side’s killer instinct, admitting to problems “putting the game to bed sometimes”. For almost the entirety of this encounter, they failed to even locate the sleeping quarters.
Despite the bulk of possession, the hosts rarely looked like using their domination. So dull was the first-half lack of action that one shirtless man enjoying the Saturday afternoon sun with a spot of ironing on his balcony overlooking the East Stand decided he had seen enough and duly faced the other way, turning his back to the stadium long before Forest broke the deadlock against the run of play in injury time.
A long throw found its way to Morgan Gibbs-White on the edge of the penalty area, where his shot ricocheted off Ben Mee’s outstretched leg straight into the path of Danilo. Fresh from his first Forest goal midweek, the Brazilian accepted the present on his 22nd birthday and smashed past David Raya from six yards out to give his side a lead that they could not quite cling onto.
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“It’s not the best performance of the season, definitely not,” said Frank. “They made it difficult for us and defended well. We played too slow, didn’t find the right moments to play behind, took too many touches. Not a high enough quality. Average performance.”
Forest’s resilient defending deserved at least a share of the spoils and there was certainly enough mettle to suggest they can keep themselves in the Premier League next season. But fight is one thing; points are another.
