Ten man Forest suffer another setback

Eric Lichaj goal celebration vs Burnley
Picture: Courtesy of NFFC

Nottingham Forest failed to win at home again as captain Henri Lansbury got sent off in a 1-1 draw with high-flying Burnley.

The Reds, who have only won once at home all season, produced a much better performance than on Friday when they crashed to a 2-0 defeat against then bottom-of-the-league Bristol City.

Dougie Freedman made three changes to that side with youngster Tyler Walker replacing Chris O’Grady, Jamie Ward coming in for Chris Burke and Eric Lichaj returning from suspension to replace Danny Fox at right back.

Forest started well, but could have gone behind with Burnley’s first foray forward.

Former England international Joey Barton’s deflected shot came back off the post and Andre Gray tapped in the rebound, only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside.

This served as a wake up call to Forest who produced a response straight away, with Lansbury and Nelson Oliveira getting efforts in on goal.

Despite Forest dominating possession in the opening minutes, Burnley still looked dangerous when they attacked and had a golden chance to take the lead when Scott Arfield found himself unmarked at the back post, but he could not capitalise and shot wide from two yards out.

It looked as though that would be the final bit of excitement in an even first half until David Vaughan sent a long ball forward for Oliveira to chase.

The Portugal international looked to have got the better of former Derby and Manchester United defender Michael Keane, who handled the ball right under referee Stuart Atwell’s nose.

There were jeers from the 17,000 strong crowd when Keane only received a yellow for stopping what seemed like a goalscoring opportunity.

The resulting free kick from Jamie Ward was smashed into the wall and a couple of minutes later, Burnley should have had the lead but Sam Vokes got his header all wrong, nodding wide from ten yards out and that was to be the last meaningful action of the first half.

Neither side made changes at the break and it was Burnley who started the second half more brightly with Andre Gray turned his man on the edge of the area before firing over.

There were no more chances of note until the 68th minute.

Ryan Mendes beat his man and played in the lively Oliveira, who fizzed a shot just wide from the edge of the area.

Mendes then came close himself as substitute Dexter Blackstock teed the Cape Verdean winger up from five yards out but Burnley keeper Tom Heaton produced a good save to stop the Reds from breaking the deadlock

He could not do anything about it however four minutes later, as Forest took the lead.

Eric Lichaj, who had never scored for Forest, found himself free at the edge of the area and found the bottom corner with his left foot after good work from Jamie Ward down the right hand side.

The American full back was then immediately on defensive duty again as Burnley pushed on for an immediate reply.

Forest fans’ jubilation at being ahead did turn out to be short-lived. A reckless challenge by Henri Lansbury on Burnley defender Ben Mee forced the referee to show the Forest midfielder a straight red card, meaning he won’t be in the Reds’ already depleted squad for the next three matches against Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston.

Freedman’s side then had to dig deep for the last 15 minutes as Burnley, with their man advantage, piled the pressure on.

It ended up being too much for the ten men when, in the last minute of normal time, midfielder Matty Taylor broke Forest hearts by cutting-in from the right and producing a powerful drive that beat Reds’ goalkeeper Dorus De Vries.

The fourth official then signalled five minutes of injury time, but Forest held out to earn a valuable point.