Nottingham Forest vice-captain Morgan Gibbs-White was not happy with referee Thomas Bramall and his assistants during Friday night's 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town

Morgan Gibbs-White has raised concerns about why referee Thomas Bramall failed to reach an on-field verdict regarding a potential red card for Issa Diop.

Nottingham Forest were awarded a free-kick following intervention from video assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis and their assistant, James Mainwaring. They concluded that the Ipswich Town defender had not prevented a clear goal-scoring chance because James McAtee's touch had travelled away from goal before the foul occurred.

Diop therefore received a yellow card rather than a red card. While accepting the outcome, Gibbs-White expressed frustration with the process used to arrive at it on Friday night.

Gibbs-White told Sky Sports when asked whether Diop's foul merited dismissal at Portman Road, saying: "It is difficult to say because you don't know if he's going to get there. My only question is: why did that have to go to VAR when both the referee and linesman are standing there watching?

"It should be an on-field decision right then and there. I do agree with the decision because we don't know if he was going to get there."

He continued: "I think there needs to be a little bit of ownership on the pitch; it's as simple as that.

"The referee and the linesman can both see exactly what's happened, and I think we wait for VAR to intervene all the time instead of making actual decisions there and then on the pitch and keeping the game natural."

Diop also spoke to Sky Sports about the incident afterwards, and expressed his confidence about not being sent off, saying: "I don't think it's a red; I went to tackle because I saw Leif Davies covering. He [James McAtee] put the ball wide, and Leif was there to cover.

"I don't think it's a red. I was quite confident about that."

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Forest head coach Oliver Glasner disagreed, commenting: "It doesn't make sense [to speak to the referee] because it is what he decided. And we have to accept it.

"It looks like the VAR was not from the East Midlands today. It felt like it was a red card, but we couldn't have played a more dominant game than we did in the second half.

"Not to blame the referee; we will keep analysing and practising. Maybe I am wrong, or I don't know if the referee was a former football player; he won't change it anymore, so we accept it."