Brighton 2-2 Nottingham Forest: Morgan Gibbs-White is sent off before managers Fabian Hurzeler and Nuno Espirito Santo are also shown red during chaotic draw as both teams maintain their unbeaten starts
- Brighton and Nottingham Forest both remain unbeaten so far this season
- Morgan Gibbs-White was dismissed late on after four goals had been scored
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Four goals, three red cards and barely a moment to catch your breath. There is, however, only one place to start when telling the story of this action-packed draw.
It was late in the second half, the scoreline already locked at two apiece, when Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White slid in hard to stop Joao Pedro, who was leading the charge on a Brighton counterattack.
A strong challenge, undoubtedly. One that erred on the side of recklessness, but sat in that difficult grey area because Gibbs-White appeared to have won the ball. Not least in the eyes of the man it mattered most, referee Robert Jones, who even appeared to indicate he believed the Forest man had won the ball by drawing a circular shape in the air with his hands.
By that point, both sets of coaching staff had already flown off their seats. Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, knowing Gibbs-White was already on a yellow card, demanded red.
Nuno Espirito Santo, his opposite number, couldn’t believe a foul had been awarded in the first place.
Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White was sent off against Brighton on Sunday
Forest held on for a 2-2 draw, which saw both teams remain unbeaten this season
Chris Wood converted a penalty to put Forest 1-0 up in the 13th minute at the AMEX Stadium
Then, more than 30 seconds after the moment which had sparked the pandemonium, came an apparent change of heart from Jones, who delved into his breast pocket to show Gibbs-White his second yellow and then a red. He wasn’t done there either, brandishing the same red card in the direction of both managers.
Gibbs-White didn’t go quietly. Instead he screamed and wagged his finger in the face of fourth official Anthony Taylor. So much for Taylor being taken out of the firing line following the horrific abuse he suffered after showing a record number of cards during last weekend’s game between Bournemouth and Chelsea.
Espirito Santo was incandescent and didn’t go without making his feelings known either.
Neither camp allowed themselves to become embroiled in the post-match debate, with Espirito Santo’s assistant Rui Pedro Silva insisting nothing untoward was said to Jones.
‘I’m always going to give my view from the point of view of the bench. In the first moment. I thought it was a fair tackle, a good tackle but a fair tackle. I didn’t see nothing over there that justified a second yellow card,’ said Silva, who was also shown a yellow card.
‘I didn’t hear nothing from the mouth of Nuno that justified a red card. Of course it’s very emotional, you’re going to defend your player and your team. But saying something that goes against the referee, no I didn’t hear anything from the mouth of Nuno that justified a red card.’
Jack Hinshelwood equalised for Brighton by scoring the fourth goal of his top-flight career
Danny Welbeck put Brighton 2-1 up just before the half-time break and he celebrated in style
Brighton assistant Andrew Crofts adopted a similar flat bat approach.
He said: ‘Their player definitely doesn’t mean to hurt Joao, nothing like that, but it’s obviously a foul. Their bench doesn’t think it’s a foul, we do and then the referee has to make a decision.’
It is a crying shame Gibbs-White’s dismissal will overshadow a thoroughly entertaining game that started promisingly for the visitors.
Carlos Baleba is so often the man who sets the tone in Brighton’s engine room but did so for all the wrong reasons here.
Gibbs-White, wearing the armband in place of Ryan Yates, stormed away down the right and crossed for Callum Hudson-Odoi. The ball squirmed under Pervis Estupinan and into yards of space in the Brighton box.
Hudson-Odoi was sharper to the ball than Baleba, who bundled the Forest winger over. There was no debate to be had over that decision and Chris Wood sent Bart Verbruggen the wrong way from the spot.
But suddenly the red wall which Forest had used so effectively to secure their first win against Liverpool at Anfield since 1969 last week crumbled in front of Espirito Santo's eyes on the stroke of half-time.
First, Forest switched off from short corner by the hosts. When defender Nikola Milenkovic found himself occupied by Danny Welbeck, Brighton's more obvious attacking threat, Jack Hinshelwood sensed an opportunity. He snuck around the back and produced a thumping header past goalkeeper Matz Sels.
Then, a few minutes later, the hosts turned the game on its head when the tricky Kaoru Mitoma drew a foul from Ola Aina just over 20 yards from goal on the stroke of half time.
Setting the ball beyond the far post, Welbeck curled a brilliant free kick into the far corner. Sels didn’t move a muscle.
The goalkeepers’ union might argue Hinshelwood did enough in the wall to block Sels' view. That wasn’t an argument Roy Keane was buying into. ‘Sels should be fined a week's wages,’ said the Irishman while on duty for Sky Sports. ‘You cannot be beaten on that side. It's so poor.’ It was hard to argue with that assessment.
Espirito Santo made it quite clear what he thought of his team’s implosion, making a triple substitution when the action resumed.
It appeared to have made little difference early on when Welbeck was allowed to waltz his way into the Brighton box – shrugging off tame challenges from Elliot Anderson and Aina - before Sels went some way to make amends for his first-half brain fade by saving brilliantly with his feet.
Espirito Santo had no choice but to roll the dice again if Forest were to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. He replaced Anderson with Ramon Sosa and just over 10 minutes later his substitutions, just as they had done at Anfield, paid off.
Welbeck scored direct from a free-kick for the first time ever in his Premier League career
But Forest hit back thanks to a first Premier League goal by summer signing Ramon Sosa
It was a clever move, Wood dropping into midfield and laying off Gibbs-White, who slid Jota Silva in behind Lewis Dunk with a quite brilliant pass.
The Portuguese attacker was bearing down on goal but chose the unselfish option, squaring the ball to Sosa who scored his first goal for the club to complete the comeback.
Then came the final flashpoint when Jones flashed his red card not once, not twice but thrice.
It caused fury on the pitch and in the stands but ultimately killed any hopes of either side snatching a winner. And with that, everyone was able to catch their breath again.
