This was more than a tale of two Nottingham Forest penalties – one missed by Brennan Johnson early on, the other scored by Morgan Gibbs-White in stoppage time – but the manner in which Steve Cooper’s side rallied from disappointment to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone with their first win in 12 matches suggests they may have rediscovered their survival mojo.
Lewis Dunk’s handball in the 88th minute prompted such a long VAR review that 10 minutes of stoppage time had been signalled before Gibbs-White followed his strike at Liverpool on Saturday with his fifth league goal of the season.
Brighton, who had led through a goal from Facundo Buonanotte, another young talent off their seemingly endless conveyor belt, could not handle the heat of the City Ground atmosphere after Pascal Gross’s own goal in first-half stoppage time.
Fresh from the disappointment of losing the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United in Sunday’s shootout, Brighton’s aversion to penalties deepened as their chances of European qualification took a knock.
“We deserve to lose the game,” Roberto De Zerbi said. “We played well for 35 minutes in the first half, then we didn’t play with the energy to deserve to win the game.”
Forest’s transfer policy this season has been so turbulent that twice the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, has seen fit to sack the recruitment staff. Yet Danilo, the Brazilian playmaker signed from Palmeiras for £16m, may be one of the January signings who has just helped save the club’s season. His goal midway through the second half gave Cooper’s side the winning platform they have so craved.
The City Ground was teeming with noise and light as the game started ferociously. Neco Williams did not take too much persuasion to go down under Pervis Estupiñán’s ninth-minute challenge but Johnson’s spot-kick allowed the recalled Jason Steele to save to his right.
Cooper highlighted Keylor Navas’s implausible reaction save to divert Julio Enciso’s shot over the crossbar before Brighton took charge in style.
They had made five times more passes than Forest midway through the half and when Solly March cut back inside and shot, Navas was culpable for giving up a rebound for Buonanotte to prod home.
But if Brighton thought that was it, Forest had other ideas. In the last moments of the first half, Taiwo Awoniyi laid the ball wide for Renan Lodi to fizz in a cross that deflected off Gross and into the near top corner.
Williams, with a taste for scoring after his goal in Saturday’s close defeat at Anfield, went close with a low drive just past the post. But he was taken off on a stretcher and to hospital with a head wound as, trying to dive on to Gibbs-White’s lofted cross from the left, he collided badly with Johnson, his own teammate.
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Brighton could have gone ahead, when Estupiñán released Buonanotte to offer Kaoru Mitoma the chance to score in a devastating counterattack, but his shot went wide. De Zerbi said Evan Ferguson could be fit for Saturday’s game with Wolves.
How Forest capitalised on the reprieve. Awoniyi managed to prod the ball forwards, offering Danilo the momentum to sprint away from the Brighton defenders before steering his right-foot shot home on the angle.
Cooper was proud of his players. “You think of the penalty miss, think of the injuries, think of the way we conceded,” he said. “For the players to show that resilience and that mentality, you’d think we’d been winning every week. They should take a lot of heart from that. We’re in control of our destiny.”
