Gib it up! MORGAN MERRIER ONCE MORE
MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE struck lucky – seven days after he claimed Nottingham Forest had been “cheated.”
The forward was furious after his side were denied all three points against Brentford, believing ref Andre Marriner’s decision to award the Bees a penalty was wrong.
But against Crystal Palace he benefited from one of the streakiest goals ever awarded by the controversial VAR system as Forest won only their third Premier League game this season.
Gibbs-white put the ball into the net after Brennan Johnson’s 54th-minute shot had been saved – and appeared offside to the naked eye.
The goal was immediately ruled out by a linesman’s flag before VAR somehow proved the Forest ace was level with his man.
This after Wilfried Zaha had missed his fourth penalty of 2022 in embarrassing fashion, a tame sidefoot clipping the post on its way past.
Suddenly it looks like the tide is beginning to turn for Steve Cooper’s strugglers.
“I really, really wanted the supporters to be able to go into the
By Ian Baker
break with a positive result,” he said. “We got that. Nobody is getting carried away, of course – even though I might have for 10 seconds.
“I just thought we were good for the win.”
Palace twice had decent chances early on thanks to Zaha. But at the other end Jesse Lingard could not reach Johnson’s cross in front of goal.
Palace’s penalty came on 41 minutes after Zaha had turned Joe Worrall and been fouled by his man before the painful effort from the spot.
Boss Patrick Vieira still has full faith in Zaha on penalty duties, with a record of seven scored from 11 taken.
“How many has he scored? There is zero doubt in my mind. I am still confident in him,” he said.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Henderson 7; Aurier 7, Boly 7, Worrall 6, Lodi 6 (Williams (86) 6); Yates 7, Freuler 7, Kouyate 7 (Colback (71) 6); Johnson 7, Gibbs-white 7 (O’brien (86) 6), Lingard 7 (Surridge (81) 6)
CRYSTAL PALACE: Guaita 6; Clyne 6 (Hughes (78) 6), Andersen 6, Guehi 6, Mitchell 6 (Ward (60) 6); Doucoure 6 (Edouard (85) 6), Schlupp 6; Ayew 5 (Mateta (59) 6), Olise 6, Eze 6 (Ebiowei (78) 6); Zaha 5
STAR MAN: Morgan Gibbs-white – on hand to score the winner and put his frustrations firmly behind him.
REFEREE: John Brooks 6