Nottingham Forest 2-3 Brighton: Sub Joao Pedro scores match-winning double despite bizarre Lewis Dunk red card

Joao Pedro came off the bench to score a match-winning double for Brighton, who won 3-2 at Nottingham Forest despite seeing Lewis Dunk bizarrely sent off for dissent.

Pedro came on in the first half for the injured Ansu Fati and scored either side of half-time to put Brighton 3-1 up, after fellow Seagulls striker Evan Ferguson had cancelled out Anthony Elanga's early strike for Forest.

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But the game became nervy for Roberto De Zerbi's side with 15 minutes to go as VAR spotted a foul by Jack Hinshelwood on Callum Hudson-Odoi in the box. After Anthony Taylor gave the penalty following a trip to the VAR monitor, Brighton captain Dunk was initially given a yellow card for dissent, but was sent off 30 seconds later after continuing his complaints.

Morgan Gibbs-White scored the penalty and despite a late onslaught from Forest, which included two big missed chances for Ryan Yates in stoppage time, Brighton held on for a first Premier League victory in seven games - sparking incredible celebrations from De Zerbi, who ran straight across the pitch to the away fans.

"Our celebrations today, we didn't win the Champions League, we know that very well," De Zerbi told Sky Sports after the game. "But it was a tough moment for us. We want to celebrate this way with our fans, our attitude to win was great.

"I think we played one of the best games in our season in terms of the quality of the play and personality. We never suffered until the red card. Nothing else more or less.

"But honestly it's difficult to win the game for us, given we have ten players with injury and we finished with ten players after the red card. We finished the game with two players [born in] 2005, one in 2004. Pascal Gross was at right-back, Hinshelwood was at left-back and he's not a left-back. Veltman was at centre back. Moder didn't play in the last two years."

Mourinho-esque! De Zerbi's full-time sprint in pictures

From agony to ecstasy - how De Zerbi's Brighton held on

Brighton had the vast majority of the ball throughout but it was Forest who took the initiative through the first shot of the game.

Gibbs-White burst down the right and hung a ball to the back post for the unmarked Elanga to head home, in the perfect start for Steve Cooper's side.

But Brighton were not disheartened by the early setback. Fati and Billy Gilmour saw snapshots fly wide, before the latter saw a shot from inside the box well held by Forest goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Then came the first of two Seagulls setbacks as Fati went down holding his right leg, with Pedro coming on. And five minutes after that substitution, Brighton were level.

The excellent Pascal Gross ventured into the Forest half and found Ferguson in the box via an Adam Lallana dummy. The Irish striker took one touch before finding the bottom corner with ease.

Forest nearly retook the lead in rapid fashion again as Gibbs-White was played in behind by a fabulous diagonal Murillo pass, only for Dunk to deny him with a goal-saving block.

And after Tariq Lamptey's injury and subsequent substitution for Hinshelwood brought about six minutes of first-half stoppage time, Brighton found their second.

Gross was not closed down on the right wing so had time and space to find Pedro, who headed into the far corner at the back post.

Forest tried to get back into the game after the break as Danilo fired wide at the far post from Harry Toffolo's corner, but Brighton were handed a penalty for a clumsy foul on Pedro by Wood.

Pedro stepped up to send Vlachodimos the wrong way and it looked like Brighton were coasting to victory.

That was until Forest got a penalty of their own - and all hell broke loose at the City Ground. VAR told referee Taylor to go to the monitor after spotting a pull on Hudson-Odoi by Hinshelwood.

Taylor gave the spot-kick after seeing the incident and was immediately met by Brighton captain Dunk, who was booked for dissent. The Brighton captain continued his remonstrations with the referee and was given his marching orders, with De Zerbi cutting an angry figure on the sidelines.

Gibbs-White scored the penalty and Forest were not done yet. Toffolo saw a deflected effort nearly deceive Verbruggen, while Gibbs-White got his bearings wrong when found with a header in the six-yard box.

As 10 minutes of added time drew to a close, Forest thought they had their equaliser when Yates saw a tame header saved by Verbruggen from close range.

At the other end, Pedro was denied a hat-trick on the break by a last-ditch crunching tackle by Murillo - but it was De Zerbi who was running towards that end at the full-time whistle, celebrating the three points with a Jose Mourinho-esque run towards the Brighton fans.

Cooper criticises referee Taylor

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper did not hold back in his criticism of referee Taylor for the awarding of Brighton's penalty then not initially giving the hosts a spot kick for the foul on Hudson-Odoi.

Taylor is one of English football's most successful referees and was one of only two officials to represent his home country at the World Cup in Qatar - but Cooper says if the 45-year-old is the best on offer, then it is a concern.

"It probably tells you a bit about Anthony today and where we're at in general with refereeing," he told Sky Sports.

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"I'm trying to be the guy who is in the camp of supporting and not criticising. I really am. But you have to stand up for your team as well.

"When you see decisions like that, he sees the one in open play but doesn't see the one overturned by VAR. It's probably where we're at in terms of the confidence in refereeing at the moment.

"It's cost us and it will be someone else next week. But I repeat, we didn't play well enough in the first half so I'm not going to hide just behind the penalty decision.

"I'm trying to be in the camp of: 'how can we help and support them?' Because they obviously need help.

"Like I said, Anthony is right up there in terms of being one of the best referees and if that's where it's at, then it's not setting the bar for anybody.

"The second half, for the neutral it was quite entertaining because there were loads of incidents that I didn't particularly enjoy. But that's just caused by the referee and the performance levels. But he will know that, he's an honest ref and he will know he has to improve."

De Zerbi: Maybe Dunk made a mistake

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Brighton manager De Zerbi, meanwhile, refused to criticise his captain Dunk for his clumsy red card - but did say his defender "made a mistake" in getting sent off.

The Seagulls boss revealed that Dunk had apologised to the team after the game for his sending off but when asked in his press conference whether the defender will be fined by the club, the Italian said: "I'm not a policeman, I'm a coach. He said sorry to everyone, he understood the mistake."

"Without character, it's impossible to win the game, especially in football. But we played a great game for 60 minutes I think," he told Sky Sports.

"I don't want to speak about controversies. I believe in my captain and I believe in Dunk. He made a mistake because it's possible he said something bad. I don't know, I have not spoken with him yet but we wanted to win 100 per cent with our best and maybe it's possible Lewis made a mistake.

"Absolutely, we defended very well with character, with order. Sometimes we lost order but Nottingham at home is very tough. The atmosphere in this stadium is fantastic.

"I'm not used to speaking about the referee decisions. When they decide something, we have to accept. I don't know if they're similar or not. But I don't think the referee made the difference in the game."

What's next?

Live: SNF

Nottingham Forest's next Premier League clash is against Everton on Saturday December 2, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 5.30pm.

Brighton are in Europa League action Thursday when they travel to AEK Athens; kick-off 5.45pm.

Meanwhile, their next Premier League assignment is a trip to Chelsea; kick-off 2pm.

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