Everton draw sparks official Nottingham Forest complaint amid Steve Cooper fury
Nottingham Forest are making an official complaint to the PGMOL after the 2-2 draw with Everton on Sunday left them furious, The Telegraph reports.
The Toffees were twice pegged back by Brennan Johnson goals, after a Demarai Gray penalty and an Abdoulaye Doucoure header had given them leads at the weekend (5 March).
Steve Cooper was reportedly left “furious” with referee John Brooks, who was recently dropped for two games following his high-profile VAR error on 11 February as the video assistant for Brighton vs Crystal Palace.
Forest want his performance reviewed, with owner Evangelos Marinakis in attendance at the City Ground and in full support of the complaint.
Cooper was unhappy that a foul wasn’t given before Doucoure’s goal for Everton, and the club are drawing up a “detailed document” about their gripes.
Nobody satisfied
Sean Dyche was also not impressed that Everton were not awarded a second penalty on Sunday when Seamus Coleman appeared to be tripped in the area.
Demarai Gray had put the Toffees ahead from the spot after Jonjo Shelvey had felled Dwight McNeil in the box, but a potentially vital win ultimately went begging.
It will be a case of ‘join the club’ for plenty of Blues fans hearing that Forest are angry with refereeing performances given what they have put up with on a regular basis in recent times.
There is a long list of instances over the past two seasons that have seen Everton on the receiving end of baffling decisions that have undoubtedly cost them points to pile on top of an already miserable situation at the club.
The failure to award a penalty for a Rodri handball on 26 February last season was so striking it led to a personal apology from then-referees chief Mike Riley.
Virgil van Dijk not being sent off for a foul on Amadou Onana in the goalless Merseyside derby on 3 September, and Bournemouth scoring on 12 November with James Tarkowski down with a head injury in the box, are just a couple of the examples from this season.
Nobody seems to be happy with officiating currently, amid a slew of retirements, as the standard seems to have dipped significantly.