Dean Ashton thinks Nottingham Forest’s Ryan Yates did clip Preston’s Ben Davies

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The Championship stalemate between the Reds and the Lilywhites proved controversial due to a disallowed goal.

Nottingham Forest had a week to forget last week as they followed up a contentious 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion with another somewhat controversial stalemate at Preston North End.

The Championship game at the Hawthorns was marred by Dwight Gayle’s late dive, which yielded a penalty for the hosts which Jay Rodriguez converted for an ill-deserved equaliser, while at Deepdale there was another moment which led to some criticism.

Forest already had one goal disallowed when Lewis Grabban offside from Daryl Murphy’s header after 29 minutes, but later on, Joe Lolley had the ball in the net for the visitors but it was ruled out for a foul by Ryan Yates.

Speaking to the official Forest site after Saturday’s game, manager Martin O’Neill said: “It should be a goal and we have been robbed of all three points, again, in a matter of three days so that is four points and it is a lot to take.”

Dean Ashton, a retired striker who is now a pundit with Quest, said on the channel’s highlights show: “My first instinct is that it was a foul by Ryan Yates. He comes steaming in, and naturally wants to score, swings a leg at it, and I felt that he caught the goalkeeper.

“When you slow the incident down, it looks like (Yates) kicks Ben Davies’ leg more so and then that ricochets into Declan Rudd’s head. I still think it is a free kick because he doesn’t get any of the ball, Ryan Yates… Martin O’Neill, I think, just feels a bit sorry for himself.”

Forest sit eighth in the Championship table at the moment with 47 points from 33 matches, six points behind sixth-placed Bristol City, and are effectively in the middle of a full week off as their next game, the big East Midlands derby against Derby County, doesn’t take place until next Monday night.