Brentford v Nottingham Forest: Premier League – live

It means a lot. It’s been a long time coming. I manifested this when I was out, and I’m here now: I’m buzzing to be back. When I left my house today I thought, ‘We’re winning today and I’m scoring.’ And I made it happen, so it’s good.

[On the free-kick] I practise them in training. Everyone batters me when I hit the stands or they go in the car park, but I delivered when it mattered. [On moving the ball] I think you have a yard either way, so I just moved it and then bent it round the wall.

I’m so glad to be back playing with the lads. I’ve missed it so much – the fans, everything – and the boys fully deserved the result. I’m glad for Neal to get the winner because he works hard in training and we’ve got a partnership. I’m sure we’ll get a lot of goals together.

Toney has talked a brilliant game all week. But his talk:walk ratio is beyond reproach. The goal was vital but the breadth and subtlety of his centre-forward play really elevated his performance.

That was a really entertaining game, which swung one way and then the other before Neal Maupay settled it with a superb hooked shot. Danilo scored an even better goal to put Forest ahead early on, and Brentford were a bag of nerves until Ivan Toney equalised with a swaggering free-kick.

They were a different team after that and probably deserved the win in the end. Ben Mee and Chris Wood traded accomplished headers in the second half and then Maupay… I was going to say he stole the show, but he didn’t. He did score the winner though.

Peep peep! Ivan Toney has inspired Brentford to a crucial victory, just like he said he would.

90+7 min: Brentford substitution Brentford continue to kill time in the Forest half, and then they waste a bit more by bringing on Yegor Yarmolyuk for the quietly excellent Mathias Jensen.

90+5 min Forest can’t generate any attacking momentum. This game looks done.

90+3 min Dasilva wastes a few seconds near the byline and then holds Forest up by fouling Aguilera (I think).

90 min There will be ten added minutes. One more twist isn’t beyond the realms, especially with that much injury time, but Brentford have been reasonably comfortable since retaking the lead.

89 min: Double substitution for Brentford Josh Dasilva and Kristoffer Ajer replace Keane Lewis-Potter and Mads Roerslev.

88 min A Forest player accidentally stands on the hand of Roerslev, who looks in a fair bit of pain as he receives treatment.

87 min “Shaping up to be a strange old relegation battle, especially with the Everton and Forest situation,” says Max Williams. “Who’s going down? The three promoted teams most likely but God knows what happens with the points deductions. As a Palace fan it feels like we picked a good season to be crap while also wasting a great opportunity to finish higher than 10th for once.”

I think Luton will stay up because they have a lot of (relatively) winnable home games to come. The points deductions, actual and potential, make it really hard to judge though. It’s the algorithms I feel for: they have to work out the percentage chance of a points deduction and then factor that into the percentage chance of relegation. Still, in technology we trust.

86 min: Forest substitution Brandon Aguilera replaces Gonzalo Montiel.

85 min Tavares shoots over form distance. A bad idea, poorly executed. Though Forest haven’t played badly – a draw wouldn’t flatter them – they have missed the wit of Morgan Gibbs-White and the dynamism of Anthony Elanga.

84 min Jensen, who has been quietly excellent, has a pop from 25 yards. It’s well struck but straight at Turner.

80 min: Just wide from Mangala! Chris Wood, who along with Toney has been the best player on the pitch, holds the ball up and touches it off to the onrushing Mangala 20 yards out. This time he swishes just wide with his left foot, having done so with his right in the 66th minute.

78 min Wood combines nicely with Dominguez and hits a shot from the edge of the area that is blocked. The ball spins up towards Collins, who feels a bit of contact from behind and falls over like Willem Dafoe in the Platoon poster. The referee gives the free-kick. It probably was a foul, I don’t know why I’m making it sound like Collins dived.

76 min A win today would move Brentford up to 14th, six points clear of the relegation places. There’s a long way to go – they have a grisly run of fixtures until mid-March – but it would give them so much confidence. And a confident Brentford have been pretty good at taking points off the bigger teams. What they’d given for another league double over Manchester City, who they play twice in February.

74 min: Double substitution for Forest Sergio Reguilon and Shandon Baptiste replace Neal Maupay and Mikkel Damsgaard.

71 min Rui Pedro Silva, a member of the Forest backroom staff, has been booked.

GOAL GIVEN! They were checking whether the ball hit Maupay’s hand after he controlled it. VAR decided not – but the Forest players are all around the referee. The replays we’ve seen suggest Maupay controlled the ball onto the chest, not the arm.

So much for Maupay lacking confidence: this is a thrilling goal! Toney found Roerslev, who swung a routine cross towards the penalty spot. Maupay’s first touch took the ball away from Omobamidele, and he swivelled to hook a brilliant shot back across Turner with his left foot. But it’s being checked by VAR for handball.

What a goal from Neal Maupay!

68 min: Chance for Forest! This game is anyone’s now. Hudson-Odoi’s cross is touched off deftly by Wood to Mangala, who charges onto the bouncing ball and slashes just wide from 15 yards.

67 min Toney is booked, perhaps harshly, for catching Omobamidele as they jumped for a high ball.

That’s another excellent striker’s goal from Chris Wood. Danilo won a 50/50 with Damsgaard a bit too easily and found Hudson-Odoi on the left. He flashed a terrific cross into the middle, where Wood ran across Mee and flicked an accomplished header into the fast corner. His touch was so deft that at first I wondered whether the cross had gone straight in; replays showed that Wood definitely got a touch – and that he knew exactly what he was doing.

Woodigol strikes again!

62 min “A ‘couple of yards’?” sniffs Andy Flintoff about my description of Toney’s goal. “It was about one ball diameter, so perhaps a foot at most.”

My point exactly. (I’m crap at measurements.)

62 min: Forest substitution Neco Williams replaces Ryan Yates. Not sure what that means tactically.

59 min Toney – I know, I know, but he’s been a class apart in this second half – plays another brilliant pass, this time to leave Maupay one v one with Omobamidele in the area. Maupay is a bit indecisive, betraying his scoring record in the last couple of years, and Omobamidele puts the ball behind for a corner.

Lewis-Potter won a corner on the left, which was taken by Jensen. He curled a fine ball to the near post, where Mee got away from his marker Montiel and flashed a header past Turner. That’s an emphatic finish.

Brentford have come from behind to lead!

56 min: Chance for Brentford! Toney’s excellent pass releases Roerslev on the right. His early cross is missed by Maupay and reaches Lewis-Potter, who mishits the ball into the ground and wide from about 10 yards. That was a whole lot more than a half-chance.

55 min Forest appeal for a penalty when Danilo’s cross hits Roerslev. The ball bounces back to Danilo, whose clever stabbed pass is flicked extravagantly wide of the near post by Mangala. I think he had more time than he realised.

54 min Montiel is booked for something or other, I missed it.

53 min Toney pulls into the inside-right channel, 30 yards from goal, and cracks a fantatsic cross towards the far post. Lewis-Potter gets the wrong side of the defender, Montiel I think, but can only stud it straight at Turner. A half chance at best.

While Toney hasn't dominated the game, he has produced six or seven moments of real class.

51 min Danilo is booked for catching Collins as they both went for a bouncing ball. The contact was soft enough to preclude a VAR upgrade. Talking of which…

“I hate myself for saying this but... isn’t ball placement/movement after the ref draws the line something that should be checked by VAR when reviewing the goal?” says Justin Madson. “I’m so sorry for asking this, but with all the small things that VAR does look at surely something as clear as someone moving the ball illegally would be on the table?”

Well, I have no idea. (You’re welcome.) But in theory I guess it should be something they could get involved in. It’s a hard thing to spot in real time, though. I know I didn’t see it until Dan Naylor emailed in about it. Anyone got Dermot Gallagher’s number?

50 min A decent start for Forest, with plenty of possession at the start of the half. As it stands, both teams are walking towards a stick/twist dilemma.

47 min “To be fair, the Saudi league was offering a lot of money and many footballers are probably too busy training to keep up with current events,” says Liz White. “Meanwhile in Miami, everything seems to be working out for everyone.”

46 min Toney is fouled on the left wing within 20 seconds of the restart. Jensen’s wicked ball in is superbly defended at the near post by lord knows.

46 min Peep peep! Brentford begin the second half. Ryan Yates, who hurt his knee just before half-time, is back on the field.

Replays show that Toney moved the ball (and the foam line) a couple of yards to the right for the free-kick, as mentioned by Dan Naylor in the 37th minute. Whether it made a difference, who knows, but you can understand why Forest might feel pisse aggrieved. You can also understand why Toney will not give one solitary ess.

Half-time reading

Just one question: what did they think it was going to be like?

An interesting arm-wrestle at the Gtech Community Stadium. Danilo’s early goal, a nonchalant long-range volley, quietened the home crowd – but only until the returning Ivan Toney took advantage of a dodgy Forest wall to equalise with a precise free-kick.

That led to Brentford’s best spell of the half, during which Keane Lewis-Potter clattered the bar, but Forest weathered the storm and went into the break as equals.

Toney played well. He made the goal look routine and played a handful of excellent passes. Just as importantly, the manner and timing of his goal relaxed his teammates, who started the game very nervously.

45+4 min Toney pulls out to the right and pokes a good square pass to Damsgaard in the area. His cutback almost falls for Maupay, but it doesn’t, so there.

45+3 min In fact it was a clash of knees that put Yates on the deck, so it should be something he can run off.

45+1 min Yates is limping heavily and holding the back of his right thigh. That doesn’t look good. Forest are already down to the bare bones.

45 min Four added minutes.

44 min Toney tries to score from the left wing with a driven lob. He gets the length right but not the line; the ball goes well wide of the far post.

43 min Both players are okay to continue.

41 min There’s a break in play after a clash of heads between Maupay and Dominguez.

40 min Montiel’s fast cross is punched away the diving Flekken. This is a decent little spell for Forest, who were under the pump for the best part of 15 minutes.

38 min Tavarez swishes a wobbling long-range shot that is saved at the second attempt by Flekken.

In other news, this is quite the coincidence.

37 min “On replay it looks like Toney moved both the spray line and the ball to get it around the wall!” says Dan Naylor.