Nottingham Forest want answers from PGMOL after error in buildup to Liverpool winner

Nottingham Forest are seeking answers from Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the referees’ body, after being left incensed by the buildup to Darwin Núñez’s 99th-minute winner for Liverpool, resulting in ugly scenes that could trigger punishment by the Football Association.

Paul Tierney wrongly handed Liverpool’s goalkeeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, the ball to restart play from a drop ball less than two minutes before Núñez headed in to extend Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to four points. The fourth official, Graham Scott, indicated eight added minutes, which expired 36 seconds before Núñez struck, though the figure held up is a minimum.

Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, stormed to the side of the pitch and was reportedly removed from the tunnel by security after asking for an explanation from Tierney, who wrongly allowed Liverpool to restart play after a collision between two of their players when Forest had possession outside the visitors’ penalty area. Steven Reid, the Forest first-team coach, was sent off and Mark Clattenburg, Forest’s referees’ analyst, was blocked from entering the officials’ dressing room. In the aftermath of the goal a supporter encroached on to the pitch and had to be removed by stewards.

Afterwards Forest took the unusual step of making Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee, available for interview. He said: “The law states that, if the referee is going to stop the game – which he is entitled to for a head injury – the ball has to go back to the team that has possession. Nottingham Forest clearly had possession. The laws of the game clearly state that, when the referee blows his whistle, the team that has possession should get possession when the game is