Blades pour cold water on Forest's fire

Nottingham Forest 1 Sheffield United 1

This result was as massive a boost for the Premiership ambitions of Neil Warnock and his Sheffield United team as it was devastating for Forest, after two refereeing decisions left the home supporters incensed and had a crucial influence on the match. The award of a penalty to Sheffield United and then the issuing of a straight red card to Forest's outstanding teenage centre-back, Michael Dawson, ensured that the referee, Mark Clattenburg, needed a quartet of security men to see him safely off the field.

Dawson, Forest's England Under-21 defender, will miss the return leg at Bramall Lane on Thursday, a blow to his team they could have done without. The dismissal came seven minutes from the end as Dawson went in hard on Steve Kabba, who had been on the field for only a couple of minutes. Dawson and his colleagues hotly contested the decision and, much though the United player made of the tackle, he was up and running again in short order.

Warnock offered sympathy. "Because Dawson is a young lad he over-committed himself for the tackle and couldn't stop. But I am not sure it was malicious."

So did it deserve a red? Warnock shrugged. "That's referees, isn't it? My favourite subject." The Forest manager, Paul Hart, said: "We will be asking the Football Association to have a look at the video and, of course, the referee."

The penalty, a lifeline to Sheffield United two minutes after David Johnson had broken the deadlock early in the second half, was awarded for a Matthieu Louis-Jean tackle on Michael Brown. It looked a foul but Brown was heading away from goal at the time and he clambered to his feet to congratulations from team-mates before burying the kick and then getting booked for throwing the ball into the away supporters.

The result United were seeking was achieved through a professional, if frequently cynical, performance in which time-wasting was paramount until they had a numerical advantage in the closing stages. Forest were, as ever, dazzling in their passing but indifferent close to goal, Johnson's strike excepted.

No doubt recalling the three goals Forest had knocked past them in a League game at the City Ground last November, Sheffield packed the midfield in a bid to deny Forest a base from which to build, though Warnock insisted that attacking and winning was their game plan. Influential though Michael Tonge and Brown were in the middle, Forest still made space and should have been in front in the seventh minute when Marlon Harewood headed a Riccardo Scimeca inswinging corner kick against the bar.

Paddy Kenny was at full stretch to turn a Scimeca free-kick over, but United could have sneaked the first goal, thanks to a wild miskick by Louis-Jean. A free-kick was bouncing harmlessly towards Darren Ward when the full-back swung a boot and skied the ball. It fell to a decidedly surprised Carl Asaba, who could manage nothing more lethal than a toe-poked volley.

As Forest's pressure increased, Phil Jagielka and John Curtis collected bookings but a Dawson header a foot too high was the closest they came before the interval. Afterwards, it was a different tale. Darren Huckerby played Harewood clear but he shot wide. Then Kenny clung on to a Johnson header but he could do nothing the next time Forest's top scorer gained possession, from a glorious through ball by Andy Reid. Johnson's blistering pace took him away from defenders before he looked up, took his measure and shot.

"We were still celebrating that goal when they got their penalty," said Hart. Whatever, United were back in and it lifted them enormously. As rain set in, making an over-watered pitch even more tricky, Forest kept chasing a winner. Kenny parried Johnson's drive but the closest to another goal came at the other end in injury time, Tonge racing through to shoot just wide.

As for Forest, they have a comforting statistic; they have never lost when Johnson has scored. Another goal from him in the second leg would be handy.

Nottingham Forest 1
Johnson 55

Sheffield United 1
Brown pen 58

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 29,064