Nicolas Dominguez earns 10-man Nottingham Forest point against Brentford

Argentine scores on home debut after Moussa Niakhate was sent off at City Ground

Nottingham Forest's Nicolas Dominguez, right, celebrates with Morgan Gibbs-White after scoring against Brentford. Reuters

Nicolas Dominguez earned 10-man Nottingham Forest a valuable Premier League point at home to Brentford on Sunday.

After a first-half lacking in goalmouth action, the match sprang into life early in the second half when Forest’s Moussa Niakhate was shown a second yellow card after an ugly challenge on Yoane Wissa.

From the resulting free-kick, Brentford were in front when Mathias Jensen floated a ball into the box and captain Christian Norgaard headed home.

But, despite being a man down, Forest showed their fighting spirit and levelled the scores when Dominguez, on his home debut, sent a looping header over visiting keeper Mark Flekken.

The final half-hour was an attack versus defence exercise as Brentford pushed to make their numerical advantage count, but they came up against a resolute Forest rearguard. The point moved Forest one place up to 11th while Brentford jumped a place to 13th.

Brentford have dropped eight points from winning positions this season, the joint-most of any team along with Bournemouth. This was the fourth time this season they have failed to win after being in front and the Bees are now without a win in five games.

“It's disappointing,” admitted Brentford captain and goalscorer Norgaard. “We took the lead and they had a man sent-off. When you don't leave the pitch with three points you will always be disappointed afterwards.

“It's very difficult even though you're one man more. You saw with Tottenham yesterday how difficult it was to score with two men more. Even though I thought we created enough chances in the end to score, I think we were unlucky.”

There was a change to the match officials' line-up after Darren England was dropped as fourth official following his mistake on Saturday night when, as VAR in Tottenham's dramtic win against Liverpool, he failed to overturn the decision to rule out Luis Diaz's goal for offside.

Proud to wear the badge 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/QDTA3P47XP

— Harry Toffolo (@Harry_Toffolo) October 1, 2023

Craig Pawson was drafted in on the touchline and his colleagues in Stockley Park had an early test as Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi converted from close range after Willy Boly's header from a corner.

He was immediately ruled offside but it was closer than it initially looked, with VAR Michael Oliver this time consulting the horizontal lines to confirm the decision.

The second half immediately brought more entertainment starting with Niakhate's sending off after he raked his studs on the back of Wissa's leg, with referee Paul Tierney brandishing a second yellow card.

And from the resulting free-kick, Norgaard nodded Mathias Jensen's delivery into the corner, with the goal surviving a lengthy review for offside.

Forest's response was admirable, though, and they levelled eight minutes later as Harry Toffolo's cross found Dominguez and his header looped over Flekken, with the goalkeeper appearing to pull his hand away as it went over him.

Forest manager Steve Cooper said. “You're 1-0 down with 10 men but to think that we got back in the game, got the result and seen it out, it ends up being a much better point for us than for Brentford.”

It ends level ⚖ pic.twitter.com/XdcRbFbjqP

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) October 1, 2023

Updated: October 01, 2023, 4:18 PM