Brighton 2-2 Forest: Naivety costs Albion in chaotic encounter

Four goals. Three red cards. One penalty. It is fair to say Brighton 2-2 Nottingham Forest packed a lot into 90 minutes as both Seagulls and Tricky Trees maintained their unbeaten starts to the season.

Forest will have been the happier of the sides, given they trailed 2-1 going into half time and finished the afternoon with only 10 men after Morgan Gibbs-White picked up a second yellow card with seven minutes remaining.

From a Brighton point of view, it felt like a missed opportunity. The two goals conceded were entirely preventable. The Albion have shown defensive naivety in every game so far under Fabian Hurzeler but until the midweek 3-2 League Cup win over Wolves, had somehow gotten away with it.

Four sloppy goals conceded in the past two matches gives Hurzeler a very obvious area for improvement. Winning games becomes much harder if you are giving away chances every week.

Less talked about in the aftermath of Brighton 2-2 Forest is what happened at the other end. Hurzeler said in his pre-match press conference that he wanted the Albion to create more opportunities than the 21 shots they managed in the 0-0 draw against Ipswich Town eight days earlier.

Brighton though did the opposite. Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels kept out a Danny Welbeck effort early in the second half but other than that did not have a serious save to make after the break. Three shots on target all afternoon tells its own story.

No prizes for guessing the identity of the Tricky Trees player who opened the scoring. Ex-Seagull Chris Wood notched his 57th goal against Brighton since his successful loan in the 2010-11 League One title winning season, converting from the spot after Callum Hudson-Odoi was sent to ground in the box by Carlos Baleba.

Was it a penalty? If it were Welbeck going down in the Forest box, Albion fans would have wanted a foul. A bigger issue than referee Rob Jones awarding it was the clumsy and unnecessary challenge by Baleba. And a bigger issue than that was how Forest got a cross into the box in the first place.

It came from the Albion’s left flank, where Pervis Estupinan enjoyed an interesting first Premier League start of the season.

Highlights alongside being largely culpable for the Forest spot kick included taking a corner on one side, legging it all the way to the other side to take a throw and throwing the ball straight into the head of a Tricky Trees player.

Going behind was a real cause for concern. Forest are one of those teams who know how to defend a 1-0 lead, as Liverpool found out at Anfield.

Combine that with the Albion’s well-known issues breaking down opponents who park the bus and you could understand why a sense of panic seemed to set in around the Amex – even though there were still 75 minutes for Brighton to get back into the tie.

They duly did so just before the break via two goals in as many minutes turning the game on its head, both of which would have been missed by anyone heading down to the concourse early to beat the queues for a delicious Sunday dinner in Yorkshire pudding*.

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*Sunday dinner in Yorkshire pudding may not have been as delicious as the club would like you to believe. In reality, it looked like a cat had been sick into a hollowed out bread roll.

Jack Hinshelwood was first to strike, powering in a header from a superb Jan Paul van Hecke cross. When Kaoru Mitoma was then brought down 25 yards out, Welbeck bent a fine free kick straight into the opposite corner.

It was the first time Dat Guy had ever scored a free kick in his long and esteemed career. Hopefully, it will also bring to an end the sorry sight of Lewis Dunk taking such opportunities in future.

Forest were grateful for half time bringing to a halt the Albion’s siege of the South goal. The task for Brighton after the break seemed simple – find the killer third which would wrap the game up and mean three points stayed at the Amex.

But as already noted, there were precious few chances for Brighton to extend their lead. As the second half wore on and a third goal remained elusive, the Albion perhaps should have changed tack by dropping deeper and concentrating on defending what they had.

Continuing with a very high line against a good counter attacking side was an approach loaded with risk. And so it proved when Wood pulled Van Hecke into midfield, causing the Brighton defence to part like the Red Sea when confronted by Moses.

Forest gleefully broke into the space, Gibbs-White threaded in Jota Silva and his square pass was finished off by Roman Sosa to make it Brighton 2-2 Tricky Trees with 20 minutes remaining.

Gibbs-White decided to liven up the closing stages by flying into substitute Joao Pedro as the Brazilian attempted to launch an attack.

Mr Jones initially appeared to signal that Gibbs-White had won the ball, only to change his opinion and show the Forest player a second yellow card – based presumably on advice by the fourth official.

This led Gibbs-White to lose his mind, going berserk at any official within a 25 metre radius. Forest boss Nuno went equally mad, eyes bulging from his head until he too was flashed a red card by Mr Jones.

Hurzeler joined the Forest duo in getting sent off, although quite what the youngest permanent head coach in Premier League history had done was a mystery.

Gibbs-White appeared to have a lot to say to Hurzeler as the Tricky Trees player made his way down the tunnel. Putting two and two together and making 16, we will assume Hurzeler said something to warrant being sent for an early bath. If indeed, managers have baths after games.

It took Mr Jones a good five minutes to go on his red card spree and restore order, yet only six minutes of added time were indicated. With nine subs made, there should have been at least nine-and-a-half additional minutes.

Would Brighton have found a winner if Mr Jones had played on beyond 4pm? Probably not. Indeed, it was actually Forest who came closest to victory in the final few minutes.

Sosa broke clear but luckily for the Albion, his attempted pass to Hudson-Odoi was crap, the danger passed and the spoils were shared as it finished Brighton 2-2 Forest.

Probably the right result on a frustrating afternoon for the Seagulls.