Brighton 0 Nottingham Forest 0: Seagulls miss host of chances as Steve Cooper’s side battle to hard-earned draw

NOTTINGHAM FOREST’S social media team should mock up an image of seagulls pecking aimlessly at a tree.

Brighton poked and prodded at Dean Henderson and his heroic defence but they just could not find a breakthrough. 

Rex

Reuters

Brighton stars Adam Webster, Joel Veltman and Solly March surround referee Darren England but it was a largely tame draw[/caption]

Leandro Trossard, oozing confidence under new boss Robert de Zerbi, pulled all the strings but he was let down by Brighton’s flapping forwards.

The likes of Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana wasted a host of golden chances to leave new boss Robeto De Zerbi awaiting his first win.

The point means Steve Cooper’s gut-busters have hauled themselves off rock bottom in the table, with their first point on the road to give them a glimmer of hope. 

It came after Cooper had slammed his side’s backfiring Twitter jibe of a picture of Emmanuel Dennis with some wolf cubs under the caption ‘playtime’ – before going onto lose 1-0 at Molineux on Saturday. 

After the game, Wolves responded with a post depicting a chopped down tree with the caption “playtime’s over”. 

Given how many chances the Seagulls had last night they would have been hoping for a mock up from their own social media staff of bird poo all over a tree. 

Streams of fuming home fans left before the final whistle having now watched their side fire blanks in three consecutive matches, including losses against Spurs and Brentford.

For the first time since he took charge, De Zerbi made one change to his starting XI, following the 2-0 defeat to Brentford last Friday.

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Pervis Estupinan dropped to the bench to make way for Lallana, on his first start in nearly two months.

It seemed to be working as Brighton were well in the driving seat in the first-half and the scoreline could have been ugly had it not been for a Henderson’s masterclass. 

Trossard stung the hands of the ex-Manchester United stopper with a rasping effort for the first warning shot early on.

Later on Solly March bulldozed into the box and tried to look for Pascal Gross with a cutback but was snaffled up by Neco Williams before he could get his shot away. 

This was the first top-flight meeting between Brighton and Forest since 1983 – and their first ever in the Premier League. 

It threatened to be a real snore-fest before Trossard latched onto a deflected Danny Welbeck shot and woke up fans by walloping a fierce volley off the crossbar.

AP

Alexis Mac Allister fires in another effort on the Forest goal[/caption]

Despite the host’s onslaught, Forest fans were still roaring Steve Cooper’s name to Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough”. 

But you wondered how much more of the onslaught they could take?

Brighton just didn’t stop building and hero Henderson was being peppered in goal. 

Trossard whipped a saucy cross into the box but neither Lallana or Danny Welbeck could make the crucial touch. 

De Zebri had ants in his pants, darting up and down the touchline and even nearly lobbing a water bottle at the floor as his players continued to fire blanks. 

Henderson made another corking save, this time tipping out a low drive from March just inches from the post. 

Trossard hit back again, dancing down the left flank and teeing up Gross who cracked a shot at Henderson. 

AP

This time Dean Henderson grabs the ball ahead of team-mate Scott McKenna as , centre, as Brighton left-wing back Solly March hovers[/caption]

Welbeck then pounced on the rebound only to see his effort smothered by the Forest stopper and somehow the visitors went into the break unscathed. 

Brighton only cranked up the pressure in the second-half and Williams was hit with a tongue-lashing from fuming Henderson for shirking his defensive duties. 

Ryan Yates was accidentally booted in the nose by Moises Caicedo but soldiered on with a busted hooter to epitomise Forest’s grit and determination to scrap for a precious point. 

Brighton still hadn’t found their shooting boots and this time Adam Webster was the culprit by wasting a chance in front of an open goal after Gross’ inch-perfect delivery. 

It was Gross’ turn to tuck into the chaos as fans at the Amex turned sour. 

The German latched onto a glancing Welbeck header following Tariq Lamptey’s cross before slicing an effort at Henderson who expertly punched clear sparking a cacophony of boos around the ground.