Furious Nottingham Forest claim ‘referee’s call’ guidance ignored in madcap draw at Brighton

Nottingham Forest are furious with the decision-making process by the match officials in the 2-2 draw with Brighton and believe it goes directly against guidelines they were given before the season.

The game exploded with seven minutes to go when Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White was shown a second yellow card for a challenge in front of the dugouts on Brighton’s Joao Pedro.

Referee Rob Jones appeared to signal Gibbs-White had got the ball but Forest believe he was overruled by fourth official Anthony Taylor, who instructed the official to show a second yellow Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo was also sent off for his reaction to that decision, as was Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler for his role in the aftermath.

Forest are thought to be particularly upset about the decision as they were told by Professional Game Match Officials Ltd before the start of the season that referees’ on-field calls would be backed -–not overturned as was the case here. The protocol was termed ‘referee’s call’ in meetings between officials and managers before the season started, and it is thought that Forest believe today’s decision contradicts the edict and undermines the on-field referee.

Forest also have previous with referee Jones. The official sent off Willy Boly against Bournemouth in December 2023 and Forest wrote to PGMOL chief Howard Webb to ask him not to referee their games again. That request was not accepted.

Forest assistant manager Rui Pedro Silva, who was also booked, felt the decision to send pff Gibbs-White was incorrect.

“In the first moment I thought it was a fair tackle,” Pedro Silva said. “I didn’t see anything that justified a second yellow card. I think the referees took their time to have a conversation and they made the final decision to show a second yellow. I don’t think that’s bad.

“To be honest, I didn’t hear nothing from the mouth of Nuno that justified a red card. You’re going to defend your player, but saying something that goes against there referee? No.” His own yellow card? “I just gave my point of view to the referee, nothing more than that. It’s not easy always to be under control of your emotions.”

“There was a tackle that we feel was a foul,” Brighton assistant Andrew Crofts said. “Their player doesn’t mean to hurt Joao but it was a foul. It broke out a little bit but I didn’t see the next part. When you can see your player is genuinely hurt, that affects you. Football is full of emotions.”

Forest took the lead after 13 minutes when Jones ruled that Carlos Beleba had fouled Callum Hudson-Odoi as both competed for a loose ball after Gibbs-White had crossed low from the right. Chris Wood, once on loan to Brighton in their League One days, converted the penalty.

Brighton answered with a sustained spell of pressure, Georginio Rutter glancing a header over the bar and Simon Adingra shooting wide, and levelled after 42 minutes. Jan Paul van Hecke crossed from the right and Jack Hinshelwood timed his arrival perfectly to head his first goal of the season powerfully past Matz Sels.

Two minutes later, Danny Welbeck put Brighton in front, curling a 22-yard free kick past Sels after Ola Aina had brought down Kaoru Mitoma. It was Brighton’s first goal directly from a free kick since September 2022, and called into question Forest’s scouting – Welbeck had missed by inches from a similar position against Ipswich Town just eight days ago.

Espirito Santo made three changes at half time, and they worked as two of his introductions combined for the equaliser. Well on top around 70 minutes, Brighton passed up a number of chances to shoot and paid the penalty as Jota Silva beat the offside trap and broke away to set up Ramon Sosa for his first goal in English football.

Sosa could have won it late on but failed to time his run to beat the offside line and then mistimed his pass to Hudson-Odoi into the bargain.

The upshot was that both teams remain unbeaten, but with defences this leaky you wonder for how much longer. Brighton, especially, need more pace at the back.

“We came here with a plan to keep the winning mentality,” Pedro Silva said. “Even with 10 men we still had chances to change the result.”

Crofts declared that Brighton were “frustrated, we did enough to win the game. We have a lot to learn from the past two games and we will.”