Furious Forest complain to PGMOL over Ivan’s controversial free-kick

NOTTINGHAM Forest lodged a complaint to the referee chiefs and the Premier League last night about Ivan Toney’s free-kick against them in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat by Brentford. Forest are seeking answers from referees’ chief Howard Webb after replays showed Toney moving the ball twice to create a better angle and altering the foam used to determine the free-kick line before scoring, on his return after an eight-month ban. Referee Darren England and

VAR failed to intervene and the goal stood. Mail Sport understands that Forest were told after the game that the exact position of where a free kick is taken from is ultimately the referee’s decision and not something where VAR would intervene. Hence the goal was not overruled by VAR. After the game, Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo was furious that Toney’s goal was not checked. ‘Everyone saw the ball displacement. The law is clear,’ he said. ‘Every situation that leads to a goal must be checked.’ The VAR protocol, which is set by IFAB, can only intervene for ‘serious missed incidents’ — goals, penalty decisions, direct red-card incidents and mistaken identity. Despite Toney scoring directly from the free-kick, set pieces are deemed as restarts rather than a goal. Forest wrote to Howard Webb yesterday asking whether players are allowed to move the ball and draw their own lines for a freekick and if not, then why did VAR not intervene by classing it as a ‘serious missed incident’ leading to a goal. They believe this incident, as well as VAR’s inability to check red cards resulting from two yellow cards, are examples of where VAR is inadequate.