Birmingham 1-1 Nottingham Forest: Last-gasp Lewis Grabban penalty denies Blues

Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Birmingham and Nottingham Forest at St Andrew's as the Blues seemed set for victory after a Marc Roberts goal, but Lewis Grabban's late penalty meant the spoils were shared.

Thursday 22 April 2021 10:36, UK

Birmingham were denied victory at the death as Lewis Grabban's 98th-minute penalty rescued a 1-1 draw for Nottingham Forest at St Andrew's.

Marc Roberts' 49th-minute header looked to have secured a third straight Championship win for the first time since February 2020 and put them close to avoiding relegation with three games to play.

But Grabban scored from the spot after Lukas Jutkiewicz was judged to have shoulder charged Scott McKenna as he sent a header at goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

The draw left Blues 10 points clear of third from bottom Rotherham, who have five matches left.

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They have taken 14 points from seven games under head coach Lee Bowyer and Grabban's reply ended a run of 460 minutes since they last conceded.

Forest - managed by former Blues boss Chris Hughton - ended a run of no points and no goals in three outings.

Birmingham had the first chance when the unmarked Scott Hogan could only glance across goal from Kristian Pedersen's cross.

That was the last that was seen of Hogan after he was forced off in the 19th minute.

The former Aston Villa striker has recently been struggling with a hip problem and walked off holding his lower back, replaced by Jonathan Leko.

The home side threatened again just before the break, but Jutkiewicz sent a bullet header straight at goalkeeper Brice Samba from Ivan Sanchez's inswinging corner.

Out of the blue, Forest went close in the 42nd minute when Luke Freeman crossed from the right and Ryan Yates glanced against the crossbar.

Blues returned to the attack from the restart and took a deserved lead.

It was no surprise it came via another headed set-piece as Roberts stole in unmarked at the far post to head home Sanchez's inswinging corner.

The centre-back got to the ball ahead of team-mate Pedersen to score his fourth goal of the season.

Forest had a rare chance when James Garner let fly from 25 yards and his low, skidding drive bounced just wide.

Roberts almost went from hero to villain when he left Etheridge short with a header from Samba's long kick to let in Lyle Taylor, who was injured in a collision with the Blues goalkeeper as the latter smothered well.

But it was Blues who continued to make the running as Roberts' header from Jeremie Bela's corner was pushed away by Samba and Jutkiewicz volleyed wide from the rebound.

Blues missed the chance to make it 2-0 when substitute Riley McGree's shot on the turn was blocked by Samba's legs.

Then came the late penalty drama as Forest rescued a late point.

What the managers said...

Birmingham's Lee Bowyer: "In the 96th minute he [referee Jeremy Simpson] wants to give a penalty that isn't a penalty, you can't just guess in the 96th minute - you can't. That's what's happened, he guessed. It was a case of 'That must be a foul because they have come together'. No, it's not. All night long, there were soft decisions. It's wrong.

"It's wrong - it's never a penalty. I have looked at it back and he [McKenna] is there, they are coming together, but that happens when you have got one player running one way, another player running another. He [Jutkiewicz] can't get out of the way of the player, the fellow heads it and because he is running his momentum takes him into Jutkiewicz.

"Too many times in this division officials get it wrong and nothing happens. They guess and they get away with it. I will ring up Alan Wiley [referees' chief] again and ask him about this decision and I guarantee you 100 per cent he will send me a letter in about three days' time apologising for that decision because it's wrong. In the 96th minute you are making a decision like that, you are messing about with peoples' lives."

Nottingham Forest's Chris Hughton: "I haven't seen it back but my assistants have seen it again and they are adamant that it was [a penalty]. Scott has a really nasty cut from that incident. Credit to our team to keep going because if you do, that's what can happen.

"We started well and for the first 20 minutes we were the better team, but for 70 minutes we were second best, even though arguably we had the two best chances with Ryan Yates heading against the bar and Lyle Taylor going clean through. But the feeling was they were going to increase their lead than us getting back into it."