NOTTINGHAM FOREST’S social media team should mock up an image of seagulls pecking aimlessly at a tree. Brighton poked and prodded at Dean Henderson and his heroic defence but they just could not find a breakthrough.
Leandro Trossard, oozing confidence under new boss Robert de Zerbi, pulled all the strings but he was let down by Brighton’s flapping forwards.
The likes of Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana wasted a host of golden chances to leave new boss Robeto De Zerbi awaiting his first win.
The point means Steve Cooper’s gut-busters have hauled themselves off rock bottom in the table, with their first point on the road to give them a glimmer of hope.
It came after Cooper had slammed his side’s backfiring Twitter jibe of a picture of Emmanuel Dennis with some wolf cubs under the caption ‘playtime’ – before going onto lose 1-0 at Molineux on Saturday.
After the game, Wolves responded with a post depicting a chopped down tree with the caption “playtime’s over”.
Given how many chances the Seagulls had last night they would have been hoping for a mock up from their own social media staff of bird poo all over a tree.
Streams of fuming home fans left before the final whistle having now watched their side fire blanks in three consecutive matches, including losses against Spurs and Brentford.
For the first time since he took charge, De Zerbi made one change to his starting XI, following the 2-0 defeat to Brentford last Friday.
Pervis Estupinan dropped to the bench to make way for Lallana, on his first start in nearly two months.
It seemed to be working as Brighton were well in the driving seat in the first-half and the scoreline could have been ugly had it not been for a Henderson’s masterclass.
Trossard stung the hands of the ex-Manchester United stopper with a rasping effort for the first warning shot early on.
Later on Solly March bulldozed into the box and tried to look for Pascal Gross with a cutback but was snaffled up by Neco Williams before he could get his shot away.
This was the first top-flight meeting between Brighton and Forest since 1983 – and their first ever in the Premier League.
It threatened to be a real snore-fest before Trossard latched onto a deflected Danny Welbeck shot and woke up fans by walloping a fierce volley off the crossbar.
To read daily news, click here.
