Nottingham Forest have written a letter of complaint to the Premier League and asked referees’ chief Howard Webb for an explanation relating to the goal that Ivan Toney scored against them for Brentford on Saturday.
Toney marked his return from an eight-month gambling ban with Brentford’s first goal, direct from a free kick, in a 3-2 win for Thomas Frank’s team.
However, the nature of the goal has compelled the losing team to seek clarification from the relevant authorities.
As Toney prepared to take the free kick, with the defensive wall lined up, the striker knelt down and moved the referee Darren England’s vanishing foam to reposition the ball to a more advantageous position.
Nuno Espirito Santo, Forest’s head coach, voiced his objections after the match and his club have followed that up by writing to the Premier League, as well as Webb’s refereeing organisation, the Professional Games Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).
The club have asked for an official response to the question about whether players are allowed to move the ball and draw their own lines for a free-kick. If the answer is no, Forest would like to know why the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not intervene by classifying it as a “serious missed incident” leading to a goal.
GO DEEPER
Breaking down Ivan Toney’s free-kick goal vs Forest: Was Matt Turner’s wall at fault? (Yes)
Toney’s explanation after the game was that it was within the rules to move the position of a free kick, as long as it was under a yard.
“That is a new one, it is the first time I have heard that one,” said Nuno. “Of course (I had issues). Everyone in the room will have seen the ball displacement and the law is clear. Every goal must be checked. Every situation must be checked, when it leads to a goal.”
Nuno also acknowledged that his players ought to have been more aware of Toney’s intentions and either alerted the referee or moved the defensive wall accordingly. Instead, Toney was left to curl a low shot into the corner of the goal that goalkeeper Matt Turner had vacated.
“We have to be more mature in that situation,” said Nuno, whose team were leading 1-0 at the time. “You cannot allow the ball to be moved because it changed the position of the wall. Everyone thinks that it was a mistake, with the positioning of the wall. But it was a clear case of ball displacement. It was not only inches, it was almost a yard.
“The wall did not move because our players did not realise that. That is our responsibility — stay in front of the ball, have a word with the referee. But VAR must have seen this. Maybe they should help the referee with this.”
Forest’s frustrations have been exacerbated because they already believe they have had a raw deal from match officials this season, most notably when centre-back Willy Boly was sent off for a seemingly fair tackle against Bournemouth, leading to a 3-2 home defeat in Nuno’s first match in charge.
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
