Forest lose points in Champions League race after draw at Palace

London, May 6 (IANS) Nottingham Forest dropped more points in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification as they drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The draw leaves Forest in sixth, two points off the top five with three games remaining, while Palace stay in 12th.

Eberechi Eze opened the scoring for Palace from the penalty spot, but Forest ignited a quick response through Murillo to leave Selhurst Park with a share of the points.

After a cagey opening 25 minutes, Forest’s first chance fell the way of Elliot Anderson, whose effort hit the side-netting after he was picked out at the far post by Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross, Nottingham Forest reports.

Forest’s best chance of the first half came not long after when a quick break saw Chris Wood play in Anthony Elanga, but former Reds shot-stopper Dean Henderson made a fine save from close-range to keep the scores level before half-time.

10 minutes after the restart, the game began to intensify. First, Matz Sels made a superb low save to keep out Ismaila Sarr inside the Forest area, then another quick counter-attack culminated in Wood’s close-range attempt crucially deflected behind by Maxence Lacroix to deny the striker a 20th goal of the season.

On the hour, Palace were awarded a penalty when Sels was adjudged to have tripped Tyrick Mitchell inside the area. After a VAR check, the spot-kick was given, with Eze finding the bottom corner for 1-0.

Forest weren’t to be behind for long however, with Neco Williams keeping a corner alive and firing a shot towards goal which was diverted into the far corner by Murillo for 1-1.

Both sides looked to capitalise in a tense final quarter of an hour, with Palace thinking they had found a winner, only for Eddie Nketiah’s close-range finish to be ruled out for offside.

--IANS

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