Chris Martin scores in added time to snatch Derby a draw against Nottingham Forest
Derby County 1 Nottingham Forest 1
Any notion that the absence of a crowd might dilute this fixture’s capacity for drama proved misplaced as stoppage time brought a red card and a scrambled equaliser after Forest looked to have done enough to stall Derby’s bid for a top-six finish in the Championship.
Derby substitute Martyn Waghorn was the player sent off, his studs-first challenge on Ryan Yates giving referee Darren England an easy decision.
Having been a goal in front from the 12th minute, it looked like job done for Sabri Lamouchi’s Forest and a temporary taste of third place in the table ahead of the 3pm games - until Chris Martin bundled the ball over the line in the seventh of the added minutes following a Wayne Rooney free kick.
“It feels like a big point,” Derby manager Philip Cocu said, even after watching his side’s five-match winning streak ended. The Rams travel to West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday before facing Brentford, Cardiff and Leeds in a brutal run-in and Cocu felt it was vital not to lose all their momentum.
“It was a tough game from the moment we conceded because Forest are one of the most organised teams in the division.
“The goal they scored was a poor one for us to concede and they missed one or two opportunities on the counter-attack but to score an equaliser, even in the 97th minute, means we are in a good place mentally for the difficult games we have coming up. If you lose this game, it makes everything harder for the next one.”
For Forest, the opposite emotion. Joe Lolley’s 25-yard strike had provided the perfect platform for their counter-attacking style and they had several chances to secure victory in the second half, two squandered by top scorer Lewis Grabban either side of Tiago Silva hitting a post, before 18-year-old substitute Alex Mighten lost his footing after Silva slipped him through on goal.
Then ‘keeper Brice Samba failed to deal with Rooney’s floated free kick after a careless foul by Forest’s Joe Worrall, defender George Evans hooked the ball across goal and Martin did enough to force it over the line, confirmed by the Goal Decision System.
A hoarse Lamouchi left it to assistant Bruno Baltazar to articulate Forest’s frustration.
“We had chances that we missed but playing against 10 men it is unacceptable to lose two points at the end and it is not the first time,” he said. “We have to work on concentration and focus at the end of the game.”
Match details
Derby County (4-2-3-1): Hamer; Bogle, Evans, Clarke, Forsyth (Lowe 81); Rooney, Bird (Whittaker 89); Holmes (Jozefzoon 65), Sibley (Shinnie 81), Knight (Waghorn 65); Martin. Substitutes not used: Roos (g), Davies, Malone, Brown.
Nottingham Forest (4-1-4-1): Samba; Cash, Worrall, Figueiredo, Ribeiro; Watson; Lolley (Diakhaby 76), Yates, Sow (Silva 59), Da Costa (Ameobi 59); Grabban (Mighten 90+1). Substitutes not used: Smith (g),Carvalho, Jenkinson, Semedo, Dawson.
Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire).
Booking: Derby: Sibley. Forest: Ameobi, Ribeiro, Worrall.
Sent-off: Derby: Waghorn (90+4)
