Anthony secures point for Burnley and denies Postecoglou first Forest win

Welcome back to English football, Ange Postecoglou. In the teeming rain at Turf Moor, with Burnley fans baying for blood, it was the kind of environment the former Tottenham manager will have missed in his short time away. Against a competent Clarets side who have an identity and a point to prove in the Premier League, this was a test Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest side ultimately failed. He remains winless in three.

It looked unlikely that Forest would drop points after Neco Williams’s early goal, but a Jaidon Anthony equaliser 18 minutes later for Burnley capped a dogged display by Scott Parker’s side, who were good value for the draw.

The second-minute strike, thundered home by Williams after Burnley failed to clear Douglas Luiz’s inswinging corner, represented an early tonic for Postecoglou. His team, without two of their first-choice back four with Ola Aina and Murillo out, had been shellshocked by their late Carabao Cup collapse at Swansea in midweek.

After conceding stoppage-time penalties against Manchester United and Liverpool in their past two matches, costing them two points, Burnley would have been forgiven for wobbling after the early setback. They rallied via a calculated press, Quilindschy Hartman’s pot-shot stinging the hands of Matz Sels after Forest had been mobbed in midfield.

Burnley achieved parity on the 20th-minute mark via the indefatigable Hartman’s dart and cross from the left. Loum Tchaouna could not win the first header but the second ball fell kindly for Anthony to guide home his third goal of the season, despite the best efforts of the scrambling Oleksandr Zinchenko, who ended up in the net with Sels stranded.

It took a fingertip Martin Dubravka save to keep it at 1-1 after a flowing Forest move ended with Dilane Bakwa’s rasping curler. Another one-touch sequence conjured up a presentable chance for Chris Wood, though the New Zealander’s finish was tame and easily snaffled by Dubravka.

Burnley endured a five-minute spell on the proverbial ropes before the break, desperately defending a series of cutbacks, many of them from the luckless Zinchenko. But Forest found a Claret wall in front of them – as they did all afternoon. And so back came the hosts, thriving on the counter and almost snatching a half-time lead when Tchaouna’s free-kick cannoned off the crossbar.

Parker’s men flew out of the traps in the second half. Anthony was denied by Sels after dovetailing intelligently with Lyle Foster, then Tchaouna teased a ball across the six-yard box which evaded everyone.

The open feel of the game continued to yield regular chances at both ends, but Forest threatened more late on, with Wood ghosting in to flick wide at the near post before he was withdrawn to a chorus of boos from fans of his former club.

Sels parried from the livewire Anthony, who ought to have done better, then Dubravka sprawled smartly across his goal to keep out a header from Igor Jesus, Wood’s replacement. The Burnley keeper produced a similar stop minutes later from Williams, who was in disbelief that his low volley had not ruffled the net.

Postecoglou made changes. And Forest kept pushing. Hartman made a crucial block from another Forest substitute, Arnaud Kalimuendo. It suddenly felt like Burnley were hanging on for a point. Amid a heavy Forest artillery and even heavier rain, the home team stood firm.

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