Nuno hits out at controversial decisions in Nottingham Forest defeat as cutting verdict delivered

Latest Nottingham Forest news as Nuno Espirito Santo’s Reds lose 1-0 to Fulham in Premier League clash at the City Ground

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo dubbed it “not the best day” for the match officials as a controversial penalty condemned Nottingham Forest to their first Premier League defeat of the season.

Raul Jimenez’s controversial second-half penalty secured the three points for Fulham at the City Ground. Referee Josh Smith had gone over to his monitor to review a challenge by Murillo on Andreas Pereira following a VAR check and pointed to the spot.

The Reds felt it was a soft decision. And they were left even more frustrated when challenges on Taiwo Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga in the box went unpunished. Senior officials at Forest are understood to be increasingly frustrated at the standard of officiating.

“We all want peace and for things to continue well, to not have to speak about the referees,” Nuno said. “But it was bad, wasn’t it?

“In Fulham’s box, we had the situations with T and Anthony. They checked and looked, but they don’t have the same opinion we do. We just have to hope that for the next one we are not talking about referees.

“Let’s try to avoid (talking about officials) and give the referees peace. I think they are trying to improve, but today was not the best day.

“We don’t want to talk about it (referee decisions). Nobody wants to talk about it. When we come to the game, we don’t think about the ref, we just want to compete and play the game and hope the referee gets things right. But today he didn’t do a good job, so let’s hope he improves – like we have to do also. We didn’t play a good game so we have to improve.”

The defeat meant Forest’s five-match unbeaten start to the league season came to an end. They had gone into the game without talisman Morgan Gibbs-White as he served a one-match suspension following a red card against Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend.

“We are disappointed with the result and disappointed with the game also, and disappointed with the incidents that happened in the game. There were things we didn’t do well,” Nuno admitted.