Away Point Well Deserved

In a game that will mostly be remembered by Forest fans for the display of the referee, Brentford just couldn?t break down an inspired 10 man Forest.
Forest replaced the injured Curtis with Frenchman Friio and stuck with the attacking 4-3-3 employed on Saturday to begin the game. Forest started the brightest and when 35 year old former Alex Keeper Bankole punched the ball clear from outside his box should have been facing 10 men, Russell produced merely a Yellow card in what seemed a weak decision. However, Commons strode up to the free kick and via a deflection the ball found the net and Forest had the lead after only five minutes.

Forest played well and continued to look in control at one nil, after a couple of scares and the crossbar it was all seeming quite even until following continuous Brentford fouling produced no cards, DJ Campbell scored at the second attempt to tie up the game on 34 minutes.
Worse was to follow however after Bennett was shown a second yellow and subsequent Red card following two harsh bookings two minutes after conceding the equaliser.

Paul Gerrard made some outstanding saves to keep Forest on equal terms including two class efforts to deny Campbell and Newman and when he was eventually beaten Wes Morgan was on hand to clear the ball off the line.
Both sides had chances to win the game and with only ten men Forest more than competed, twice in the second half Brentford defenders could easily have received straight Reds for professional fouls as Forest countered. First O?Connor blocked off a rapid Tyson break and then Sodje handballed on the edge of his area as Grant Holt was about to break through one on one with Bankole. Both times Mike Russell decided on a yellow, fairly ironic then that his second red card of the night went to the Bee?s Manager Allen for abusive language.

Forest held on through 5 minutes of injury time and even though it still wasn?t the long awaited away win, the fans returned home satisfied with the tactics and the way the players had applied themselves to the situation.
It was good to see Megson having enough faith in his team to go away from home and take the game to the opposition which they did well for the first 20 minutes. If the ref had followed the letter of the law Forest would have spent 85 minutes playing against rather than with 10 men and the outcome could well have been different.
Onto Rotherham now in search of three points away from the City Ground not seen since the win at Colchester, One thing is for sure, we would have lost tonight?s game before Christmas. Credit, not a word I have used for Forest away from Nottingham this season must go to Megson and the players for returning home with this point