10-man Forest hold Brentford

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP):

Nicolas Dominguez scored his first goal for 10-man Nottingham Forest as the hosts held on for a 1-1 draw against Brentford yesterday in the English Premier League.

Things looked bleak for Forest when they went down to 10 men just before the hour at the City Ground, with Moussa Niakhate picking up a second yellow card and then immediately conceding to Christian Norgaard from the resulting free kick.

But Forest rallied and Argentina international Dominguez levelled seven minutes later in the 65th with a looping header that Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken appeared to misjudge.

Forest were able to see out the remaining 35 minutes with relative comfort to maintain their unbeaten start to the season at home.

The draw means Brentford have now gone five games without a win, as their tricky start to the campaign continues.

There was a change to the match officials’ line-up after Darren England was dropped as fourth official following his mistake on Saturday night when, as VAR in Tottenham’s game against Liverpool, he failed to act properly in overturning the decision to rule out Luis Diaz’s goal for offside.

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper criticised Niakhate’s second yellow card after the defender raked his studs down Yoane Wissa’s calf.

“With it being the only Premier League game of the day, the (referees’ governing body) PGMOL needed a real clean day and, unfortunately, they have got the opposite,” Cooper said. “I’m annoyed with the first yellow, he (Niakhate) shouldn’t have lunged in. The second yellow ... of course it was accidental. You need football understanding to see that. It’s a contact game.”

Brentford manager Thomas Frank said he thought his side was denied a clear penalty when Wissa was fouled by Matt Turner early in the second half when he closed down the Forest goalkeeper and was caught by Turner’s follow through.

Referee Paul Tierney did not give anything and the incident was not checked by VAR Michael Oliver.

Forest are in 11th place, one point and two spots above Brentford.

Today’s game: Fulham vs Chelsea at 2 p.m.