Referee 'convinced' Nuno Espirito Santo wrong in latest Nottingham Forest row

Nottingham Forest had two denied penalty claims for them and were aggrieved at the one that went against them in the clash with Fulham

Nottingham Forest might not have been happy with the officiating in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Fulham, but former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher insists the various calls which went against them were right.

Fulham were awarded the game-clinching penalty early in the second half when Andreas Pereira was clipped and then pushed over by Murillo and after referee Josh Smith was advised to go and review the incident on a pitch-side screen. After a review Raul Jimenez stepped up to end the Reds’ unbeaten start to the campaign.

However, other situations also went against them, as Anthony Elanga felt he deserved a spot-kick after being brought down by Calvin Bassey, while Taiwo Awoniyi also looked to have been brought down in the Fulham area.

All of which left Forest boss Nuno Espírito Santo to grumble: “We...don’t want to come here to speak about the referees. But it was bad wasn’t it?”

Gallagher disagrees and insisted that Smith was right to penalise Murillo, he told Sky Sports’ Ref Watch : “I think it's a penalty and it's difficult for me to compute when me and [pundit] Stephen [Warnock] often say on a Monday ‘Is it clear and obvious?’

“Well, I think it's clear and obvious because a) I think he steps on his heel, and b) I think he gives him a push with two hands in the back.

“The ball's going to drop for him to head it, so for me, it it's clearly a penalty. So if I was the VAR, I'd be convinced I've got to send him to the monitor. A dilemma is, as you say, people's level is different, but I think that's clear and obvious.”

As regards the Bassey and Elanga he added: “I think it's a really difficult one to call, he's got the ball, he goes round, he gets the ball again, he catches him but is there enough for him to go down like that? That, for me, is not a clear and obvious error, that's one that referee’s decision on field I'm quite happy to stick with it.”

He was also dubious about Awoniyi’s claims: “Are you convinced the forward kicked the ball? I wasn't actually, where the where the ball went, I wasn't and I think the fact that the game went on so quickly like that there wasn't a great expectancy at the time for a penalty. It's easy when you sit and analyse afterwards.”

Do you agree with the decisions which went against Forest? Have your say here

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