Nottingham Forest hold out after Neco Williams handball to deny Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest who played half the game with 10 men after Neco Williams was shown a red card for handball on the goal line.

Palace picked up just their third point from their last nine games which has seen them drop down into the relegation battle.

Forest got off to a flying start when Morgan Gibbs-White struck his sixth goal of the season but the game turned at the end of the half when Williams was shown a red card for stopping Jefferson Lerma’s header from going in with a deliberate handball.

Ismaila Sarr rolled in the resulting penalty and Palace dominated possession in the second period but Forest were seemingly comfortable despite the inferior numbers.

Palace were disappointing after the break and it looked like Forest would get the winner following a chaotic ending but both sides moved a point further clear of the bottom three.

Sarr started up front for the visitors who were without their top scorer Jean-Philippe Mateta ahead of a likely move away from Selhurst Park, with the Frenchman linked with a potential move to the City Ground among other suitors.

The two clubs have not seen eye to eye since Palace were demoted to the Conference League with Forest taking their place in the Europa League, and the back and forth between the two sets of fans showed they did not forget what transpired in the summer.

Palace posed the first threat when Ola Aina gifted the ball to Yeremy Pino who set off a counter-attack and Matz Sels made a smart save to tip Lerma’s strike round the post.

Forest wanted a penalty when Igor Jesus thought he was brought down by Chris Richards inside the area but referee Tony Harrington waved play on.

The penalty shouts mattered very little a