Nottingham Forest stunned nine-man Newcastle on Friday night
Reds get better of nine-man Magpies
PATIENCE was a virtue for Nottingham Forest as they inflicted a second straight Championship defeat on nine-man Newcastle United in what Reds boss Philippe Montanier dubbed a ‘crazy game’.
Karl Darlow saved two penalties against his former side as Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett both saw red for fouls in the box, either side of a Matt Ritchie strike in a madcap final 15 minutes of the first half.
The nine men succumbed to a Nicklas Bendtner equaliser shortly after the break, but it took a late Jamaal Lascelles own goal to hand the home side the win, as the Magpies almost held on for a point.
Montanier’s side have now won three on the bounce, with the Frenchman praising the impact of his bench.
“It was a crazy game,” said the Reds boss. “There was a lot of emotion. But three points are very important for us to keep going on and I am happy about that for the victory.
“We had to be patient in the second half, to press higher and be patient with the ball. We tried to play wide to get in a lot of crosses and get opportunities to score. We stuck to the plan and got the result.
“We know we only needed a few seconds to score a goal and during the half we had to forget the penalties and try to do well. We were patient and we deserved the second goal.
“I know that I have some good players on the bench with Britt Assombolonga, Apostolos Vellios and Mustapha Carayol and I had to use all three to get the victory.”
After an uneventful opening half hour, the game kicked into gear when Shelvey kicked out at Henri Lansbury in the 33rd minute. Bendtner’s resultant spot-kick was saved by Darlow, with Ciaran Clark then having a header ruled out for a dubious push, before Ritchie clinically finished to put the visitors ahead in stoppage time.
And the first-half action was not done as referee Steve Martin sent Dummett off for bringing down Lansbury in the box – but Darlow saved again from 12 yards, this time keeping out the former Gunner.
The second half saw Montanier throw on three attackers, with Bendtner poking home in the 52nd minute, before Lascelles directed the ball into his own net from an 87th-minute Forest corner.
And Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez refused to take the defeat lying down.
“Everything was against us, there were a lot of things that we could complain about,” he said.
“I was really surprised with Lansbury and the way he was acting, twice, with the Dummett penalty, and with Jonjo Shelvey – maybe he is proud of himself.
“I will not defend Jonjo, he made a mistake, but Lansbury was kicking Jonjo before, from behind, and afterwards he was acting.
“Sometimes the FA take action with the player if they think they are over-acting, so maybe it’s something they will have to analyse.
“Lansbury was waiting for Dummett, again, maybe the FA can analyse this and see the behaviour of him.
“We tried to control the game, which we did for a while, and we tried to score when we could.
“But with nine players it is not easy, and especially when all the decisions go against you.”