Nottingham Forest Steve Cooper calls for referees to improve their performances

Steve Cooper called on referees to improve their performances after another Premier League match day dominated by the decisions of officials.

Cooper’s Nottingham Forest side were reduced to 10 men but still fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Brentford – yet the focus once more was on referee Paul Tierney and VAR.

Brentford might have had three penalties, first for possible handballs by Nicolas Dominguez and Willy Boly, and then when goalkeeper Matt Turner seemed to foul Yoane Wissa, while Cooper was angry that Moussa Niakhate was shown a second yellow card soon after half-time.

He said: ‘The foul was accidental and you need football understanding to see that. With it being the only Premier League game of the day, the last thing the PGMOL needed today was people talking about referees’ decision-making but that’s what they’ve got.

‘We all want referees to be at the level, they are obviously going through a difficult time. If one or two things have gone our way, then it’s about time.

‘We all want referees to do well. My dad Keith was a referee. We want them to be calm and making good decisions but they need to help themselves too.’

While Bees manager Thomas Frank accepted the handball calls going in Forest’s favour, he was left baffled that his side were not given a spot-kick for the Turner/Wissa incident.

Frank said: ‘I think the two handball situations some managers will say ‘penalty’ but I won’t,’ said Frank. ‘I would really hate it if that is given against my team.

‘But on the flipside the Wissa one is a clear penalty. You can’t go through the man. Unfortunately that’s a mistake from VAR as it’s clear and obvious.

‘Maybe our players are too honest, maybe they need to be a bit more nasty but I’ll never say that to