Brentford boss Thomas Frank bemoaned his side’s inability to hold onto the lead when a man up after a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on Monday (AEDT).
The Bees looked set for their first league win in five games after Moussa Niakhate was sent off and Christian Norgaard headed in the resulting free-kick.
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But Forest fought back despite their numerical disadvantage thanks to Nicolas Dominguez’s looping header on his home debut.
A share of the spoils keeps Forest one point ahead of Brentford in 11th and 13th respectively in the Premier League table.
Brentford have now dropped eight points from winning positions in their opening seven games of the campaign.
“We are just in that spell where we can’t get over the line in terms of winning the games. It’s a game we clearly should have won,” said Frank.
“We can’t keep the ball out of the net when it’s 11 against 10. That’s an unbelievable finish that’ll happen one in 100.” Forest nearly got off to a flying start when Taiwo Awoniyi turned home a corner at the back post, but he was rightly flagged offside.
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Brentford have struggled in the absence of suspended striker Ivan Toney due to breaches of betting regulations.
But the visitors were nearly gifted the opening goal by Forest ‘keeper Matt Turner.
The former Arsenal stopper was caught in possession by Yoane Wissa and bailed out by a goal-line clearance by Willy Boly.
Premier League great Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was left shocked a penalty was not awarded for the incident.
“How is that not a penalty?” Hasselbaink told Sky Sports.
“I’m bemused. This is a penalty. A hundred, million per cent. No discussion.”
Forest’s luck looked like it had run out when Niakhate was shown a second yellow card for catching Wissa 11 minutes into the second half.
Norgaard then headed home Mathias Jensen’s cross to put Brentford in front. The lead lasted just seven minutes as Dominguez headed in Harry Toffolo’s cross. Forest then saw out 13 minutes of added time to cling on to what could be a vital point in securing another season of Premier League football.
“We didn’t start the second half well and there were lots of individual mistakes which led to the free-kick and the Brentford goal,” said Forest boss Steve Cooper.
“Then it’s a different game. 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.”