Nottingham Forest drew 2-2 with Brighton on Sunday at the AMEX Stadium, maintaining their unblemished start to the Premier League season.
Chris Wood put the visitors ahead after 13 minutes, but Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck equalised just before half-time for Forest.
Roy Keane suggested Matz Sels was to blame for the goal that put Forest behind – but the Reds would not be denied.
Despite being second best for much of the second half, Forest remained strong on the counter-attack and were rewarded when Jota Silva set up Ramon Sosa for his first goal in English football.
The main talking point of the game, however, was referee Rob Jones’ decision to send off Morgan Gibbs-White.
Already on a yellow card, he made a tackle on Joao Pedro in the 82nd minute, and after initially claiming that Gibbs-White had the ball, he changed his mind after receiving advice from others and sent him packing.
Chris Wood shares whether or not Morgan Gibbs-White should have been sent off
At the AMEX Stadium, the striker increased his season total to three goals while demonstrating impressive poise from the penalty spot.
Forest only received one penalty last season, which was taken by Gibbs-White. However, he moved aside to allow Wood to add to his campaign tally.
After the game, the striker was questioned about the decision to send off Gibbs-White, and he used phrasing that suggests he may believe the referee was correct.
He told BBC Sport: “I’d have to view the challenge again; I haven’t seen it. It’s one of those; Morgan (Gibbs-White) made a foolish decision, and we have to move on.”
Gibbs-White will learn from Forest red card
When the dust settles on yesterday’s event later this morning, Gibbs-White may reflect on the challenge he made while on a yellow card.
Despite the fact that he played a lot of ball, the challenge in this day and age is most likely a foul, owing to Pedro’s follow-through.
Once it constitutes a foul, the referee must decide whether it was careless or reckless enough to earn a yellow card.
In this case, however, Jones, the referee on the pitch, did not consider it a foul and instead signaled that Gibbs-White played the ball.
To then heed other people’s advise and show the red card is insane, and it reflects poorly on fourth official Anthony Taylor.
Still, Gibbs-White will need to learn from this. In some ways, it’s wonderful that he chose to put himself on the line for the sake of the team as Brighton prepares to counter.
However, this is a lesson in how modern-day football works, and once you’ve received a yellow card, you must be absolutely certain that your next tackle will be clean and fair.
Forest will now face Fulham without Gibbs-White, and it will be interesting to see how things unfold with the talismanic forward sitting out.
