Dan Ndoye thought he had given Nottingham Forest the lead against Fulham but his goal was disallowed for a marginal offside. Molly Darlington/Getty Images
March 15, 2026 1:36 pm EDT
Nottingham Forest manager Vitor Pereira says he no longer feels able to celebrate goals, after seeing Dan Ndoye’s potential match winner ruled out for the narrowest of offside decisions against Fulham.
Substitute Ndoye — and the rest of the City Ground stadium — thought he had broken the deadlock in the 0-0 draw, when he slotted past Bernd Leno after being picked out by Neco Williams’ pass over the top, just after the hour mark. But an extensive VAR check ruled that the tip of Ndoye’s heel had been in an offside position.
It comes after a similarly tight offside call went in Liverpool’s favour in their 1-0 win here last month.
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“It is difficult to understand,” Pereira said after the game. “Against Liverpool, the decision was to award the goal. Today it was the opposite. This is the modern football that we have now. You cannot celebrate goals, otherwise after one minute…
“I did celebrate the goal because I saw nothing to cancel the goal. In the end they said to me that it was, I don’t know, a finger width. I do not understand, but this is football.”
#NFOFUL – 64’ VAR OVERTURN
VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Ndoye was in an offside position and recommended that the goal was disallowed. pic.twitter.com/ZI984kG7BW
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) March 15, 2026
Forest have scored only two goals in their last seven Premier League home games and were denied this time as Ola Aina clattered the bar and Taiwo Awoniyi missed a good late chance to plunder all three points.
A draw was still enough lift them out of the bottom three, above West Ham United.
“What I retain in my mind about this game is the spirit of the team. They tried everything to win this game. The players from the bench tried to help win the game. This is the spirit we need to the end of the season,” said Pereira. “We need to compete and keep the mentality. They are trying. A clean-sheet was important.”
Mar 16, 2026
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