Forest vs. Tranmere Rovers preview..
This fixture is quite tasty for all manner of reasons, obviously upfront for the almost-Scousers will be the familiar elbows of a certain Mr G. Taylor, and until recently John Thompson was on loan with The Whites. Ronnie Moore was upset when Forest recalled Thommo early, and Smoulders all but confirmed an element of that recall was because he didn’t want to do a potential promotion rival any favours!
Rovers have fallen away from the promotion picture lately; despite Gareth Taylor’s outlandish claims that they were going to win the league. They’re not far from the playoff places though, so will be eager for a win against the Reds who had be stuttering until Boxing Day’s convincing win against Port Vale. Taylor has a characteristically unprolific scoring record for Tranmere, but will need watching, as will Chris Greenacre, who always seems to do well against us.
Nathan Tyson is a slight doubt for us with his calf strain, although Grant Holt’s two goals against Port Vale will prove him to be an able deputy. Wes Morgan has recovered from the illness that has kept him out our last two games - although with Thompson impressive in the last game and with his “inside knowledge” of our opponents his passage back into the team may not be a foregone conclusion.
Tranmere, as far as I’m aware, are pretty much full-strength - except for their ‘keeper Gavin Ward - as well as dirty bastard Jason McAteer - so I expect them to provide us with tough opposition. On paper, it should be a home win, but we’ve not exactly played according to the form book at home this season, so you can’t take anything for granted - however, if we can recreate the professional performance with which we despatched Port Vale then we’ll be laughing.
