Luton Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest (EFL Championship) 28.10.20
Ten man Nottingham Forest drew with Luton Town at Kenilworth Road last night to keep new Manager Chris Hughton’s unbeaten record intact.
The Reds have now drawn three successive games under Hughton after winning their first match of the new gaffers reign at Blackburn but have shown resilience in each, coming from behind in all three draws against Rotherham, Derby and now Luton to share the spoils.
Things didn’t get off to a great start for Forest wearing their new camouflage third kit as the Reds defenders were hiding for Glen Rea’s opening goal. A scramble in the area that followed a Luton corner from Martin Cranie eventually led to the ball finding Rea who slotted home into the corner to give the home side a 22nd minute lead.
Things got even worse on the stroke of half time when Forest’s Cypriot left back Nicholas Ioannou over stretched after a bad touch to leave a boot on Cranie. The Referee Robinson deeming it as a dangerous challenge and issuing the player his first Forest marching orders to leave the Reds with an uphill task.
That task got easier however when on 64 minutes Cyrus Christie whipped in a right wing centre where Ryan Yates was steaming in from one of his usual late runs from midfield. Under pressure from Yates charging into the box was Glen Rae who headed powerfully into his own net to level the scores.
A late chance for Jordan Clarke was saved by Brice Samba in the Forest goal but otherwise the defensive shape again marshalled by Scott McKenna and Toby Figueiredo was solid and organised.
Forest are not out of the woods yet, six points after eight games leaves them twentieth in the division a point above Derby and more importantly a point above the relegation places too. Next up is a trip to Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough on Saturday where a win against the eighth best team in the league so far would prove vital towards getting Forest back up to the right end of the table.
Luton Town: Sluger, Lockyer (Clark 77), Pearson, Bradley, Cranie, Dewsbury-Hall (Moncur 84), Norrington-Davies, Mpanzu, Lee (Lua Lua 77), Collins.
Nottingham Forest: Samba, Christie, McKenna, Figueiredo, Ioannou, Yates, Colback, Lolley, Knockaert, Ameobi (Jenkinson 46), Taylor.
Venue: Kenilworth Road
*Main image @NFFC Jack Colback in action last night at Kenilworth Road.
