By Tim Hodges
Nottingham Forest 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 2
The Albion came within seconds of moving into fifth place in the Championship, but were held to a draw at the City Ground, after stand-in goalkeeper Casper Ankergren let a tame shot slip through his legs.
Ankergren was in goal as regular keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was suffering from the same stomach bug that sidelined Liam Bridcutt. He made a couple of good stops in the first half, most notably from ex-Seagull Darius Henderson.
With the teams all square at the break, it was Albion’s Argentinian sensation Leo Ulloa who fired the Seagulls in front on 57 minutes, lashing the ball home after Forest keeper Karl Darlow saved his first shot.
Ulloa had a chance to further Albion’s lead some ten minutes later but his shot went narrowly over the bar.
The Albion stayed ahead until Lewis McGugan pulled Forest level on 81 minutes with an effort that appeared to deflect up and over Ankergren.
Just two minutes later Ulloa played in Will Buckley, who fired low into the bottom corner to restore Albion’s advantage at 2-1.
That was the way it stayed until the 90th minute when Henri Lansbury hit a speculative shot from the edge of the area which bobbled through Albion’s Danish keeper’s legs and limped almost apologetically over the line.
The Seagulls do, however, move into sixth place at the expense of Leicester who they take on at the Amex next Saturday. But first they must deal with away specialists Charlton Athletic at home on Tuesday evening.