Brentford and Nottingham Forest shared the points on a contentious afternoon at the City Ground.

Following a tight first half, the game sparked into life either side of the hour.

First, Moussa Niakhaté picked up a second yellow card for a bad foul on Yoane Wissa, reducing the home side to 10 players.

From the resulting free-kick, Christian Nørgaard headed Brentford ahead only for Forest to equalise seven minutes later through Nicolás Domínguez.

Brentford piled on the pressure late on, but the hosts defended manfully to hang on for a point.

Turner denies Janelt as Brentford end first half with a flourish

Thomas Frank made three changes from the midweek Carabao Cup clash against Arsenal with Keane Lewis-Potter, Kristoffer Ajer and Mathias Jensen replacing Zanka, Mads Roerslev and Frank Onyeka.

Forest also made a trio of alterations for their last outing, a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City. Murillo replaced Nuno Tavares at left-back, Callum Hudson-Odoi came in for Ola Aina, and there was a switch in attack with Anthony Elanga starting in place of Morgan Gibbs-White.

It was a cagey first half at the City Ground with both sides enjoying long spells in control of the ball. Forest’s possession, at least in the opening stages, was in slightly more dangerous areas than Brentford’s but that didn’t translate into many chances.

The hosts thought they had taken the lead on seven minutes when Taiwo Awoniyi poked home Murillo’s knock-down but the flag went up for offside – VAR checked and confirmed that the Forest striker had just mistimed his run.

Elanga drove a shot wide of Mark Flekken’s near post and Ethan Pinnock got his body in the way of Ibrahim Sangaré’s long-range effort as Forest enjoyed the better of the opening half-hour.

However, the final 15 minutes of the half belonged to Brentford as they began to get Bryan Mbeumo and, in particular, Lewis-Potter isolated against their opposing full-back.

Murillo made a crucial clearance to prevent Nathan Collins from converting Mbeumo’s teasing free-kick, and the resulting corner was flicked wide at the near post by Pinnock.

There was controversy late on in the half as the Bees were denied what looked like two penalties for handball in quick succession.

The appeals came seconds after Matt Turner had beaten away Vitaly Janelt’s deflected effort following a clever free-kick routine. Nørgaard then hooked the ball back in, but it just evaded Wissa in the middle.

From the resulting corner, Domínguez looked to handle as he and Janelt jumped for a loose ball and when the ball dropped Willy Boly also looked to control the ball with his hand under pressure from Ajer.

Nørgaard's header cancelled out by Dominguez as 10-man Forest hold on for a point

Brentford were out of the blocks quickly after the break, putting the Forest backline under sustained pressure.

Turner had already seen one clearance blocked by Nørgaard before he again dallied, allowing Wissa to poke the ball away from him eight yards from goal. Boly recovered to clear from inside the six-yard box but Brentford again turned to the referee as Turner clearly took Wissa out in the act of trying to clear. However, Paul Tierney remained unmoved.

Boly made another key intervention, blocking Janelt’s fierce drive, and Lewis-Potter blazed over before the game-changing two minutes.

The tireless Wissa dispossessed Boly just outside the centre-circle and set off towards goal. Niakhaté, who had already been booked for a crunching foul on Jensen in the first half, had two attempts at winning the ball back, but his third attempt saw him tread on the back of Wissa’s calf, giving referee Tierney little option but to reach for his pocket again and show a second yellow.

It got even better for Brentford as Jensen’s delivery was straight onto the head of Nørgaard - Turner allowing the skipper’s header from 12 yards to squirm past him and in. VAR took a long look at the goal, but Nørgaard had timed his run perfectly and was just onside.

All Brentford’s hard work in getting ahead was undone seven minutes later when substitute Harry Toffolo curled in a cross which Domínguez looped over Flekken and in from 12 yards.

Back on level terms, Forest did very well to negate their man disadvantage, defending their box well and forcing Frank’s side to play in front of them.

It was only in the final few minutes, when Brentford managed to switch play at speed, that chances for a winner came.

Toffolo made a pair of important blocks to thwart substitute Neal Maupay and Mbeumo, either side of a wild Frank Onyeka effort from the edge of the box.

Turner dropped on Maupay’s hooked effort from a Nørgaard cross and only excellent tracking back from Gibbs-White prevented Mbeumo getting his shot off when set clear by Wissa.

13 minutes of stoppage-time were shown, in which both sides had good chances to snatch all three points.

Mbeumo headed over Mads Roerslev’s cross while, at the other end, a stretching Chris Wood couldn’t divert Gibbs-White’s cross towards goal.

Teenager Michael Olakigbe almost came up with the match-winning moment, but Boly was perfectly placed to clear off the line after his low shot from the left had flashed past Turner - Nørgaard’s dipping effort from the resulting corner landed on the roof of the net.

Boly was at the centre of the action in the closing stages of stoppage-time. First, he flicked Gibbs-White’s free-kick narrowly off target before making another block; this time Wissa the man frustrated.

And just when it looked like Maupay would be the match-winner in the final of the 13 added minutes, the defender threw himself in the way of another shot, to deflect the striker’s effort from 12 yards behind and deny the Bees all three points.

Brentford: Flekken; Ajer (Roerslev 89), Collins, Pinnock, Hickey (Ghoddos 69); Nørgaard, Janelt (Olakigbe 89), Jensen (Onyeka 69); Mbeumo, Lewis-Potter (Maupay 75), Wissa

Subs not used: Strakosha, Zanka, Yarmoliuk, Brierley

Nottingham Forest: Turner; Aurier, Niakhate (sent off 56), Boly, Murillo; Mangala, Sangare (Kouyate 77), Dominguez (Origi 80); Elanga (Gibbs-White 60), Hudson-Odoi (Toffolo 60), Awoniyi (Wood 80)

Subs not used: Odisseas, Worrall, Santos, Montiel

Attendance: 29,004

Frank: We should have won

Head coach Thomas Frank believes that his side should have left the City Ground with all three points on Sunday afternoon.

“Right now, we are in a spell where we are struggling to get over the line and get three points,” he said.

“What we are big believers in is that, if the performances are good and we are going in the right direction, the points will come. If you look at everything, we should have won this game.

“Leading 1-0, 11 against 10, [Domínguez] scores that header one in 100.

“After that, we should and could have scored, but on the day we just couldn’t do it. Well done to Nottingham for defending well.”

Lewis-Potter: We threw everything at it

Discussing the Bees' draw with Forest, Keane Lewis-Potter revealed that he and his team-mates were disappointed to only get a point at the City Ground, but will take the positives from their performance into the Manchester United game next week.

“The dressing room was a bit down after the result," he said. "Especially after they went down to 10 men, we had pretty much full control of the game. 

"We scored straight after they went down and then they went up the other end and scored a goal. It's difficult for us a minute but we've got to keep working hard and keep pulling together

"We threw everything at it but, sometimes, it just doesn't fall for you. I don't think it is at the minute for us. But we will take the point and move on.”