Nottingham Forest reacted furiously to the decision to overturn a penalty awarded to them during their FA Cup quarter-final tie with Brighton on Saturday evening. Drama unfolded at the Amex Stadium when Kaoru Mitoma was adjudged to have brought down Elliot Anderson inside the penalty area, with referee Peter Bankes pointing to the spot. Brighton’s players protested furiously and urged the official to check the incident on the pitchside monitor.
VAR official Andrew Madley agreed and Bankes, having reviewed the footage, decided to overturn his decision. The visitors’ bench exploded in a fit of rage as head coach Nuno Espirito Santo and his goalkeeping coach Rui Barbosa confronted the fourth official Thomas Bramall. Barbosa, in particular, appeared to be incandescent as he wildly gesticulated at the official and held up two fingers – appearing to suggest Forest should’ve been awarded two penalties.
BBC Sport commentator Steve Wilson described the Forest bench as “absolutely delirious” after learning that Bankes had reversed his decision with help from VAR.
However, his co-commentator Matthew Upson agreed with the decision to overturn after replays showed that Anderson had appeared to plant his foot on Mitoma’s elbow when the Japanese had gone to ground.
It was a rare bright spark in an otherwise dull clash between two high-flying Premier League sides, with injuries, stoppages and missed opportunities in the final third contributing to a gritty encounter.
The hosts only had one shot on target, while Forest’s threat was somewhat reduced without their 18-goal marksman Chris Wood. Brighton, meanwhile, struggled to find the same attacking cohesiveness that saw them put seven goals past their opponents in the Premier League clash earlier this season.
After 100 minutes of play failed to produce a goal, the game went to extra-time. Brighton, who used all of their substitutes after an injury to Georginio Rutter, were able to send on Lewis Dunk for Adam Webster for the extra 30-minute period.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk