Nottingham Forest today responded from Saturday's defeat at Cardiff by coming from behind twice to secure a 2-2 draw away at Watford. Two Michail Antonio cancelled out goals from Odion Ighalo and Matej Vydra either side of half time. Forest will overall be happy with a point after Watford dominated large periods of the game.
Forest started the first half at Vicarage Road very brightly. Michail Antonio had a good chance to open the scoring but failed to connect with Eric Lichaj's cross after Assombalonga challenged for a header. Watford also started well in what looked like it was going to be a very good Sky Bet Championship encounter. Fernando Forestieri forced Darlow into a very good save when he took an ambitious shot from around 20 yards out. Michail Antonio was looking a threat for Forest as he has been so many times this season. He put a dangerous low cross into the Watford area in the 15th minute but Watford keeper Gomes managed to keep hold of it and prevent any rebounds. David Vaughan was rewarded for his performance on Saturday with a starting place and he had a free-kick which almost creeped in at the far post but Watford were able to clear for a corner. In the 20th minute, Forest relied on Darlow as he made a low save from the ever dangerous Matej Vydra who is in red hot form at the moment. Soon after Kelvin Wilson had a header go just over the crossbar from another Vaughan free-kick. Wilson may have felt he could have done a bit better with the header and at least got it on target. Watford started to get more into the game and start their fluid attacking play and were rewarded in the 29th minute. Forest's defence failed to deal with a Watford attack down the left hand side which allowed Odion Ighalo to prod in from close range and give Watford a 1-0 lead. Eric Lichaj could be again blamed for this goal, his selection was a slight surprise due to the fact he had been arguably at fault for both goals conceded at Cardiff on Saturday. However, Watford's celebrations were short lived as in the 31st Michail Antonio picked up the ball on the left hand side and went on a brilliant solo run into the box and slotted the ball past Gomes to make it 1-1. Watford responded by going back onto the attack and in the 37th minute Munari had a low shot just go past Darlow's post. Watford ended the first half very well and Forest could have seen themselves as lucky to end the half with eleven men still on the pitch. Matej Vydra was taken down by Forest defender Michael Mancienne when he appeared to be the last man. However, the referee saw it differently and Forest found themselves lucky to still be level at 1-1 after Watford dominated the first half.
Watford started the second half as they finished the first. They attacked the Forest defence winning several corners and piling the pressure on. They just couldn't seem to find the finishing touch to retake the lead in the game. However, their pressure was rewarded in the 52nd minute when Watford won a penalty. Ben Osborn was the culprit as he gave away a very soft penalty by pushing Vydra over in the area. Vydra himself stepped up to take the penalty and converted the penalty to the right hand side of the goal with Darlow guessing the wrong way. Forest appeared to wake up a bit again after going behind and began to try and take the game to Watford. Forest managed to get back into the game as Burke dribbled for around 60 yards down the right hand side and put a beautiful cross into the back post for Antonio to power a header home to make it 2-2 in the 67th minute. This set the game up for a fascinating final twenty minutes or so. Now Watford decided to start attacking again in an attempt to take the lead for the third time in the match in what was turning into an unpredictable game. Chris Burke and Michail Antonio switched sides in the 80th minute in an attempt to maybe snatch a late winner for Forest. Darlow again popped up with a fantastic save to deny Watford sub Troy Deeney from winning the game for Watford. Matty Fryatt replaced Britt Assombalonga in the 90th minute with both teams looking for a winner. However, neither side could find a late winner and Forest prevented the league leaders from extending their lead.
Overall, it was a good response from Forest after a disappointing result on Saturday. Forest again showed the character implemented into the squad from Stuart Pearce by coming back from behind twice. The defence again cost us what could have been a fantastic win. Individual mistakes are currently costing us as Lichaj made some on Saturday and then tonight Osborn gave away a very cheap penalty. It was a great performance from Michail Antonio who added another two goals to his tally for the season, quickly catching up with Forest striker Britt Assombalonga. Some fans will complain about another draw, but this could turn out to be a very good point if Forest go on to beat Blackburn Rovers at the City Ground on Saturday. However, you cannot fault the effort from Forest in this match as not many teams will come away with anything from Vicarage Road this season.
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