Nottingham Forest have installed two chunky 3D stars outside the Peter Taylor Stand for the players to walk through on arrival, the kind that would be at home on the set of a television gameshow but their season began without a conveyor-belt prize, a family saloon or a trip to the Caribbean. Instead there was lingering frustration at Antoine Semenyo cancelling out Chris Wood’s first-half strike late on and deep disappointment for Danilo, who broke his ankle seven minutes into the new campaign after a seemingly innocuous collision.
Credit must go to the referee, Michael Oliver, who instantly grasped the seriousness of the injury, whistling hurried for medical staff to attend to the Brazilian midfielder. Stewards followed with Forest-branded sheets to provide a wall of privacy around the player. Danilo went to hospital for tests but the Forest head coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, confirmed a lengthy layoff is inevitable. “It is a horrible one for everybody,” he said. “We are going to miss him, not only on the pitch. We know him, always smiling, always joyful. Not only our players [were affected], everybody involved in the stadium. It stays in the head of the players. He is a very important player for us. We wish him all the best.”
Last season this fixture, Nuno’s first in charge of Forest, was certainly eventful, mired in controversy after a farcical first-half red card for Willy Boly. It was a decision that prompted a formal complaint from Forest against PGMOL, which in effect set wheels in motion for the former referee Mark Clattenburg’s much-derided arrival as a consultant. There were five second-half goals, with Wood on the scoresheet for Forest and Dominic Solanke scoring a fine hat-trick, the winner a superb header in the fourth minute of stoppage time. This time VAR went in their favour, ruling out Dango Ouattara’s first-half equaliser from an otherwise well-worked short corner with Lewis Cook ruled offside.
While Semenyo rescued Bournemouth a point, there is no disguising the fact that Solanke, who scored 19 league goals last season, will be missed. Semenyo, Ouattara, Luis Sinisterra and the substitutes Justin Kluivert and Daniel Jebbison all operated centrally at times here but against Newcastle next weekend there could be a new face leading the line in Evanilson, a £40m club-record signing from Porto. The striker, who made his Brazil debut in June and played in the Champions League round of 16 last season, was not registered in time to feature here.
“We are not going to hide, Dom was brilliant for us and important in a lot of our offensive play last season,” said the Bournemouth head coach, Andoni Iraola. “The club didn’t have an easy job, losing the best player, but they acted really well, were prepared for the situation. Evanilson has a different skillset but is a great player – he is still very young and has had many years playing for Porto and played with his national team so I hope he gives us the level that we know he has.”
With Evanilson absent and none of Forest’s six summer signings starting (Elliot Anderson arrived off the bench), this game always threatened to be about the players not on the pitch. It certainly felt that way when Danilo departed on a stretcher after six minutes of treatment. “We could see straight away [the seriousness of the injury], I realised it’s going to be very bad,” Iraola said. “The game had a lot of interruptions, a lot of stop-start.”
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It was not a match loaded on quality and from a Bournemouth perspective the Forest goal made painful viewing, though it did not stop Iraola marching from the touchline back into the away dugout to get a second look. Adam Smith’s wild clearance cannoned into the path of Ryan Yates, who replaced Danilo, and his shot was only parried by Neto, the Bournemouth captain who lost his place towards the end of last season. Neto spilled the ball straight to Wood, who followed in to feast on the rebound. On the hour mark Neto repelled a powerful header as Boly tried to double Forest’s lead, towering above Ouattara.
Sinisterra forced Matz Sels into a smart save after Neto repelled a Callum Hudson-Odoi strike at the other end and Cook also went close, his wicked shot bouncing wide. But it was Semenyo, who threatened soon after the restart, who levelled. Kluivert and another substitute, Ryan Christie, combined down the left and the latter’s cross prompted Harry Toffolo into a panicked clearance, which whacked a hapless Murillo. Semenyo seized on the loose ball and drew parity.
