Charlton Athletic vs Nottingham Forest. Sky Bet Championship.
The ValleyAttendance16,090.
Saturday 2 January 2016 19:27, UK
Struggling Charlton survived the dismissal of Tareiq Holmes-Dennis to hold Nottingham Forest 1-1 at The Valley.
Just six minutes after Simon Makienok pulled the Addicks back level, they lost substitute defender Holmes-Dennis to a second yellow card but held on for a point.
Ben Osborn had earlier given Forest a 44th-minute lead in the Sky Bet Championship clash, reward for their early dominance.
Without a win in the previous seven games, Charlton started striker Callum Harriott, who had been recalled from his loan at Colchester 24 hours earlier than planned.
Forest, seven games unbeaten heading into the game, were aiming to record their first victory on the road since mid-September and went close.
After a quiet opening by both sides, the first effort of any note came from Harriott in the 26th minute when he found his shot narrowly deflected wide of the post of Dorus de Vries.
The visitors went close with a short-corner routine six minutes before the break when Henri Lansbury laid off a short corner to Ryan Mendes - only for the midfielder to fire right across goal.
The deadlock was finally broken a minute before half-time, when Mendes played through Osborn who curled in a fine effort from just inside the box to give Forest a lead they had been threatening to take.
Charlton approached the second half in a much more positive frame of mind. Substitute Johann Berg Gudmundsson almost levelled the scores just after the restart, when he was able to pounce on a knock-down by Makienok, but his drive was deflected.
Harriott had his second effort of the afternoon after 55 minutes, when he attempted to curl past De Vries from 20 yards out - however, his effort was just off target.
The outstretching Makienok was denied a 58th-minute equaliser from just five yards out, when he got a touch to the ball only for De Vries to turn to safety.
Forest remained dangerous, however, and almost doubled their lead after 64 minutes when Lansbury found space on the right flank for Chris Burke, only for the winger to badly scuff his shot.
The hosts finally found their equaliser through Danish player Makienok after 70 minutes, when he was able to meet a through-ball and touch beyond De Vries and into the net.
Their task was to be made more difficult for the final 14 minutes when Holmes-Dennis was dismissed for a second infringement, fouling Osborn.
Charlton goalkeeper Stephen Henderson was the hero in injury time for the home side, when he saved from Nelson Oliveira at point-blank range as he broke free of the defence.
At the other end, De Vries made two fantastic stops from Harriott to help extend that Forest unbeaten run to eight games.
"It was an even first half - like the last game against Wolves - and we are getting used to conceding goals before half-time. Today we reacted pretty well to that, and after the injury to Johnnie Jackson and the sending off we had to organise the team."
Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman:
"For 60 minutes, we looked in control of the game, we passed it quite well and had enough opportunities to win it. Even when they were down to 10 men, their crowd gave them a lift and we didn't take advantage of that."