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Aston Villa threw away a 1-0 lead as they were dramatically beaten 2-1 by Nottingham Forest
A number of supports expressed sympathy with Aston Villa after some controversial refereeing decisions went against them in a dramatic 2-1 defeat against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday night.
Jhon Duran put Villa ahead with a fine strike from outside the penalty area just after the hour mark but late goals from Nikola Milenković and Anthony Elanga turned the game on its head, as Forest took all three points.
The contest was riddled with controversy after Elliot Anderson appeared to bring Morgan Rodgers down inside the penalty area during the first half but the decision went against the away side. Then, late on, Anderson provided the assist for Elanga’s winner but only after a coming together with Matty Cash which some argued should have been a foul.
Another said: “Villa robbed by two disgraceful refereeing decisions”. A third added: “Forest can count themselves very lucky. A clear foul on Cash for their goal, and Rogers denied a clear pen. How they won this game I'll never know.”
Former Villa player Lee Hendrie also argued his former side should have had a first-half penalty, as he said: “Once Rogers gets in the box you can clearly see there's a real tug [from Anderson] as he gets by him. He gets hold of him and then he yanks him back which means he loses his footing. For me, it's a penalty."
Reflecting on the game, Villa boss Unai Emery said: "We played in the gameplan and did fantastic in the first 70 minutes and scored one goal. We were trying to stop them in the high press but they are not pushing up and we are more or less doing this in the beginning. When we scored they pushed more and made changes. We tried to be consistent and then we did not do that in the last 20 minutes and we conceded the goals - one offside - but if we do that we won't be in the top eight.
"We are in the process of building the team and we are trying to be competitive and consistent. Today was a key moment because we are going to fight with them for the opportunity to be in the top eight. Today they got advantage and it is our challenge.
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