Nottingham Forest vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance25,715.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Nottingham Forest and Luton Town at the City Ground as Jack Colback was sent off but Hatters fail to capitalise as Elijah Adebayo sees penalty saved
Tuesday 23 November 2021 22:54, UK
Brice Samba saved an Elijah Adebayo penalty to earn 10-man Nottingham Forest a 0-0 home draw with Luton.
The hosts conceded the spot-kick when Jack Colback hauled down Tom Lockyer in the box, leading to his second caution of the game and first red card since May 2010.
But, despite still having half an hour to muster a winning goal following Adebayo's miss, the Hatters failed to press home their numerical advantage and have now gone three consecutive games without netting - their worst sequence since January 2016.
Earlier, the hosts had started the game with purpose as nimble footwork by Philip Zinckernagel created space for an effort that was deflected wide.
Forest's Paraguayan debutant Braian Ojeda also lifted a shot over from a similar distance after probing play by Joe Lolley.
For Luton, James Bree drove across the face of goal from 25 yards before a long-range James Garner attempt was deflected over the visitors' goal and his subsequent corner also saw Scott McKenna clear the crossbar with his header.
Away boss Nathan Jones was without regular 'keeper Simon Sluga, who had been identified as a close contact of somebody who tested positive for Covid-19 while he was on international duty with Croatia, meaning James Shea was called up for his first league outing in goal since last Boxing Day.
The former Wimbledon man was called into the first save of the night on 24 minutes when he punched away an inswinging Lolley free-kick.
Luton's best chance of the half saw Adebayo head over from a right-wing cross by Allan Campbell, who went on to scuff wide from 15 yards just past the half-hour mark.
After the break, a casual pass by Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu played Lockyer into trouble and Lolley slid Lyle Taylor in on goal, but his shot was smartly kept out at the near post by Shea.
A 20-yard Zinckernagel effort then narrowly dipped over before Colback got in his costly tangle with Lockyer on the hour - but Adebayo squandered a chance to claim his ninth goal of the season when his penalty struck the trailing leg of Samba, who had dived to his right.
After Kai Naismith blazed well over from distance for Luton, Forest fans were then screaming for a spot-kick of their own but Mpanzu was adjudged to have tripped Zinckernagel just outside the box.
Lockyer headed well over from a corner moments later but substitute Jordan Clark went closer when he flashed a 20-yard strike wide with his first touch of the night.
Only another heroic Samba stop then denied Luton a stoppage-time winner as he displayed excellent reflexes to repel Naismith's firm 10-yard drive.
It meant Steve Cooper has now lost just one of his 12 contests in charge after taking over a team that had lost eight of their previous 10 fixtures.
Nottingham Forest's Steve Cooper: "Brice had big moments and his performance was like a striker scoring the winning goal. He made a massive contribution to us getting a result that we didn't want at the start of the game, but one that was forced upon us. The penalty save was brilliant but the one at the end looked unbelievable and he got a round of applause in the dressing room afterwards. The life of a goalkeeper has ups and downs and this game will have been a real up for him and he should be proud of himself.
"First of all, I didn't think it was a corner and, then, if you are going to give penalties for that, you will be giving a lot of
them. But he's high on stats for yellows and reds, so he was true to form. I also think everyone saw the penalty we thought we should have had."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "We are a good side and we've shown that here," he declared. "Before the sending-off we were comfortable, our shape was good and we were good defensively. We just needed to show a bit of quality but, being realistic, we haven't got the budget for a [Aleksandar] Mitrovic, [Dominic] Solanke or a Harry Wilson. The stats show that we're creating enough chances and keeping the ball well enough, but I'm sick of looking at the numbers.
"We had a penalty and didn't score it. I also think we should have had another two, but he was never going to give them. We got a point against the ex-European champions, which isn't too bad, but it was two dropped really. The players are giving me everything, but certain moments are stopping us being a top-six team with a bottom-three budget. We pinned them in for long spells but, with the chance we had and other situations around the box, a team like Fulham would have scored three or four."
