Nottingham Forest drew 2-2 with Brighton at the AMEX Stadium on Sunday as the unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign remained intact.
Chris Wood fired the visitors in front on 13 minutes but two goals just before half-time from Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck had Forest level.
Roy Keane suggested Matz Sels was to blame for the goal that saw Forest fall behind – but the Reds weren’t to be denied.
Despite being second best for a lot of the second half, Forest were still strong on the counter-attack and got their just rewards when Jota Silva teed up Ramon Sosa for his first goal in English football.
The big talking point of the game, however, was referee Rob Jones’s decision to send off Morgan Gibbs-White.
Already on a yellow card, he made a tackle on Joao Pedro in the 82nd minute and after originally saying that Gibbs-White got the ball he changed his mind after advice from elsewhere and sent him packing.
Chris Wood shares whether or not Morgan Gibbs-White should have been sent off
The striker took his tally to three for the season at the AMEX Stadium and he showcased serious composure from the penalty spot.
Forest only got one penalty last season and that was taken by Gibbs-White. Here, however, he stepped aside to let Wood add to his tally for the campaign.
After the game, the striker was quizzed on the decision to send off Gibbs-White and he’s used terminology that suggests he possibly thinks the referee was right.
He told BBC Sport: “I would have to see the challenge back, I have not seen it. It is one of those, Morgan (Gibbs-White) has made a rash decision and we have to move on with that.”
Gibbs-White will learn from Forest red card
When the dust settles on yesterday’s incident later this morning, Gibbs-White will perhaps reflect on the challenge he made when already on a yellow card.
The challenge in this day and age is probably a foul – despite the fact that he played a lot of the ball – purely due to the follow through on Pedro.
Once it becomes a foul, the ref then has a decision to make over whether he thinks it’s careless or reckless and warrants a yellow card being shown.
In this instance, however, Jones – the referee on the pitch – didn’t think it was a foul and actually signalled that Gibbs-White played the ball.
For him to then take advice from elsewhere and show the red card anyway is just madness and reflects poorly on fourth official Anthony Taylor.
| Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
| 6 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 7 |  BrightonBrighton | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 8 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 9 |  FulhamFulham | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 10 |  TottenhamTottenham | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
Still, Gibbs-White will have to learn from this. In one sense it’s admirable that he chose to put himself on the line for the sake of the team with Brighton set to counter.
However, this is a lesson in how modern-day football works and once you’re on a yellow card you have to be so certain that in the next tackle, you’re going to be clean and fair.
Forest will now face Fulham without Gibbs-White and it will be fascinating to see how things go with the talismanic forward playing sitting out.
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