Nottingham Forest vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance20,043.
Saturday 5 November 2016 19:44, UK
Substitute Idrissa Sylla's late goal helped QPR snatch a point in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.
Britt Assombalonga had put the home side ahead in the 38th minute with an angled finish, four minutes after QPR had been reduced to 10 men when Karl Henry collected his second booking of the game.
But Forest also had a man sent off in the 71st minute when Hildeberto Pereira collected his second yellow card - and the home side's resistance was broken in the 86th, when Sylla headed home at the near post.
Both Forest boss Philippe Montanier and QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had gone into the game desperate for a win to end speculation over their respective futures, and neither man will have been entirely happy with a point.
Assombalonga had already had one chance for Forest when he had failed to muster the power to trouble Alex Smithies in the QPR goal before he fired the ball into the back of the net in the 10th minute.
But, while the £5.5million striker had been emphatic in his finish, as he connected with a cross from Pereira from the right, he was adjudged to have done so from an offside position.
Henri Lansbury's long ball down the centre then caught out the QPR defence, with Nedum Onuoha slipping and allowing Assombalonga to stride clear, but Smithies was quick off his line to close the angle and make a smart save.
QPR found themselves reduced to 10 men in the 34th minute when Henry, who had already been booked in the 11th minute for dissent, collected a second yellow card when he clumsily brought down Lansbury from behind.
And within four minutes, Forest had taken advantage of their extra man to take the lead. When Ben Osborn sent Assombalonga darting down the left, he carried the ball around Smithies as he rushed to the edge of his box to challenge, before squeezing the ball home from a tight angle. Grant Hall attempted to clear off the line but was only able to steer the ball into the net.
Forest might have made it 2-0 before the interval after the lively Lansbury had danced into the QPR box, before being halted by a fine challenge from James Perch. The ball span loose to Osborn, who cleared the bar by a foot with his shot.
Forest came close after the break when Lansbury curled a shot just wide of the upright, while Assombalonga lost his footing at the vital moment when he might have gone clear.
Forest continued to pressure but failed to turn dominance into chances and it was Vladimir Stojkovic who had to produce a smart save to deny Tjaronn Chery when he had a crack from range.
And Forest found themselves down to 10 men in the 71st minute when Pereira was red carded. The on-loan Benfica man had collected a yellow card for dissent in the 67th minute, but the second was far less clear-cut, as Washington went down following what looked like only slight contact.
It was the third time the teenager had been sent off this season, since joining Forest in the summer.
Substitute Thomas Lam sent a shot narrowly over for the home side as they looked to kill the game off, but it was QPR who were to take a share of the spoils, as two subs combined with Nasser El Khayati crossing from the left to pick out Sylla to head home at the near post.
Forest boss Philippe Montanier:
"When we lead 1-0 against 10 men we should have done more. I am very angry because it was a great opportunity for us. We were 11 against 10, but we gave the opponent the chance to get back into the game. This was a great opportunity to take a victory and we badly needed one, in our situation.
"I am angry with Hildeberto (Pereira) because of his first booking, he just needed to shut up. The second booking was a mistake from the referee (Keith Stroud). But the first one, he needed to be quiet because to get so many yellow cards for dissent is not normal."
QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink:
"If they (the QPR hierarchy) are going to do something, that is the nature of the game. I was not celebrating because of that, I was celebrating because we had 10 men but we still got a point. Because of the manner we played, we deserved to get a goal. That is why I was celebrating. That was my emotion at the time, I was celebrating us getting goal. The rest, whatever happens, is just football.
"We have some young players we are trying to develop. We have foreign players we are trying to bed into the team They will get better. All these things take time."
