Nottingham Forest shared the spoils with Brentford as the sides played out a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
The hosts saw Moussa Niakhate sent off and the Bees took advantage of it through Christian Norgaard. But Forest didn’t let the numerical disadvantage affect them and provided a quick response.
Argentine midfielder Nicolas Dominguez earned the Reds a point after scoring his first goal for the club. Harry Toffolo provided a cross into the box and Dominguez headed the ball beyond Mark Flekken.
Ten-man Nottingham Forest fought back from a goal down to draw with Brentford as Nicolas Dominguez’s first goal earned the hosts a point.
After a tame first half, the game sparked into life early in the second when Moussa Niakhate was sent off having stood on the heel of Yoane Wissa.
From the resulting free-kick, Brentford captain Christian Norgaard put his side ahead as he powered in a header from Mathias Jensen’s delivery for his first goal of the season.
But the lead only lasted seven minutes before Argentina international Dominguez, who joined Forest in September from Bologna, produced an excellent diving header, with the ball looping over visiting goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
Victory would have moved either side into 10th place, but neither could find a second goal on a rainy day in Nottingham.
Amid the many storylines that ran through this match, VAR stood above them all yet again.
The video technology is there to eliminate controversy yet it has simply increased it, with this time Brentford feeling they had a raw deal. On another day, the Bees might have had two penalties.
One in first-half stoppage time when the ball clipped Forest midfielder Nicolas Dominguez’s hand as he jumped with arms outstretched, and a second soon after the break for a challenge by goalkeeper Matt Turner on Yoane Wissa. Dominguez was not punished because his hand was deemed to be close enough to his body when he leapt, while Turner’s lunge at Wissa was checked and cleared.
Forest have complained bitterly about officials this term yet even though they were reduced to 10 men when Moussa Niakhate was given a second booking early in the second half, they had the rub of the green here. Christian Norgaard put the Bees in front seconds after the red card, only for Dominguez to equalise with his first goal for Forest.
With Steve Cooper searching for only his second win in 10 matches against Brentford boss Thomas Frank, the Forest boss surprisingly left Morgan Gibbs-White on the bench and moved record signing Ibrahim Sangare further forward.
