Nottingham Forest grabbed a third straight victory, edging past nine-man Newcastle United on Friday night.
The game was brought to life in the first half when Jonjo Shelvey, who had been pulling all the strings in the opening half an hour, was handed a straight red card for kicking out at Henri Lansbury off the ball.A penalty was awarded, but Nicklas Bendtner saw his spot-kick saved by former Forest goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
Newcastle continued to press despite Shelvey’s dismissal, and they got their reward when Matt Ritchie fired the Magpies in front on the stroke of half-time. However, there was still more drama to come, when Paul Dummett was given his marching orders for a foul on Lansbury in the box.
This time, Lansbury stepped up, but again Darlow thwarted Forest, and the Magpies held an unlikely lead at the interval.
Britt Assombalonga was introduced for the second half as the hosts looked to make the most of their numerical advantage, and he was in the mix as Bendtner atoned for his penalty miss, scrambling home an equaliser with 52 minutes played.
The Magpies had the occasional foray forward, with Isaac Hayden going close, but the second half was unsurprisingly dominated by Philippe Montanier’s men, despite not creating much in the way of a clear-cut opportunity.
However, in the closing stages, a wicked delivery from the left bounced off the unfortunate Jamaal Lascelles and into the net, and that proved decisive as Forest held on to climb to 13th in the table.
Table: Click here to see the Sky Bet Championship table
The match was the second in a trio of fixtures broadcast live on Sky Sports on Matchday 19 as part of a packed weekend of Sky Bet Championship action.
Sky Bet Championship: Matchday 19 preview.