Nottingham Forest – 0
Doncaster Rovers – 1
Okay, that’s the last time I show a vague sense of optimism in a match preview. A frustrating game in which we saw two sides of Doncaster – in the first half a lively attacking side who looked dangerous going forward whilst efficient at the back, in the second half a side full of tricks and gamesmanship to take advantage of a terrifically inept refereeing performance. An odd tactic, since they were clearly capable to taking the game to us.
The first half saw Rovers looking dangerous down the right thanks to the talented Coppinger – just the kind of player we lack, I might add – who linked well with the surprisingly skillful McGammon upfront. I remember him playing for Millwall, I don’t remember him being that effective though – both big and powerful, but also useful with the ball at his feet and always looking to bring his teammates into the play – whilst I never want to see an opponent injured, I thought it would do us a favour when he was stretchered off after a clash of heads with Bennett.
I thought when Agogo was brought down in the area it looked to be a definite penalty – the referee didn’t, in the first of a plethora of strange decisions, although I was less impressed with a couple of instances of Grant Holt flailing around in the area. Wes Morgan made two heroic blocks denying very serious goal chances for Rovers, Kris Commons blazed over when a ball to the unmarked Grant would surely have brought a goal, and then McGammon clashed heads with Bennett and had to be stretchered off.
The break in play soon turned to broken hearts, Brian Stock wasn’t closed down 30 yards out, and unleashed an absolute piledriver giving Smith no chance at all – a wonderstrike which sent the very subdued (considering) Doncaster fans into a momentary frenzy of noise. Despite there being five minutes of stoppage time owing to the treatment McGammon endured on the pitch, Forest were unable to get anything like a chance on goal despite having a fair chunk of possession.
Surprisingly Donny seemed content to sit back in the start of the second half – I expected them to carry on taking the game to us – they’d played some great passing football in the first half, and were fully deserving of their lead, instead we were treated to niggly gamesmanship that we’ve not seen since the likes of Leicester or Neil Warnock teams have visited us – which was a bit disappointing – particularly since the referee was as gutless as he was clueless in dealing with it.
Commons broke through from his own half, but rather than play the ball to Agogo (who admittedly wasn’t making the best run in the world) he opted to take it on himself, missed an opportunity to shoot from range and ended up just running the ball out of play. Tyson replaced the largely ineffective Grant Holt shortly into the half, although it was reasonably obvious it was the lack of service that was proving the problem – although Tys looked up for it from the off, chasing down defenders and reminding us of his pace.
Commons had a couple of long rangers worth noting, one Sullivan tipped round the post – but ultimately it was a frustrating game from the number eight – frequently he seemed to attempt audacious attempts when a pass or a cross was the better option. Given our toothlessness I can kind of understand his frustration. Agogo had a great opportunity after Curtis found Tyson, who could only nod it square for Junior, but despite his confident finishing in recent games, he was only able to sidefoot over. It wasn’t an easy chance, but I would have expected him to hit the target.
Chambers replaced Breckin shortly after this, passing the captain’s armband to Curtis – his calm composed touches at the back hinted at his quality, although when he found himself on the right wing it was clear he can’t cross (but then, how many centrebacks can?) – he looked promising, which is good – I can only presume the foot injury Breckin has been carrying had flaired up slightly – he’d been working hard and getting forward more than usual.
McGugan was withdrawn from Scott Dobie. Lewis had done okay but his inexperience showed at times, Dobie’s first action was to head it into Sullivan’s hands – shortly after this he completely took out a Donny player, and was lucky not to be booked. He was booked before the end of the game for another late challenge. The final kick in the proverbial privates was Bennett picking up his tenth booking of the season and a two match suspension.
The lowest crowd of the season booed the players off, as they had at half time. Who ever this Lord Mayor is who has a show and then makes us crap afterwards wants locking up – a very disappointing performance from the Reds – I imagine there will be a lot of comments about the shambolic refereeing performance, and it was, but Forest were the architects of their own downfall – this was our chance to consolidate second place, now Bristol have two games in hand over us, whilst only sitting a point behind us – without unthinkable wins at Scunthorpe and Bristol I am starting to fear that a top two finish is beyond us.
Filed under: Matches
We looked pathetic. The goal brought Forest exactly what they desreved last night.
I haven’t seen the possession stats but I bet they make sorry reading.
God help us if we get promoted.
Holt couldn’t keep on his feet (weak player for a man his size), Tyson was invisible, Smith didn’t command hios box and Wes’s clearance out of his hands made for some arguments between them. Commons has a couple of shots but seemed to think that on the whole he could dribble it into the goal rather than shoot. Agogo never stood a chance against their six foot seven defenders.
Bennett, Morgan and NcGugan for me came out with credit for tireless work.
(PS Did you see the way the ref made McGugan get up when injured in our penalty area after all those Donny players lay sunbathing all game?)
(And the throw in WE were awarded straight after we kicked the ball out for his to get treatment!?)
Yeah, that ref sounded awful last night. Even JMcG was complaining.
Sounds like we had the same problem last night as we have had all season really – no work ethic. When the going gets tough and the game isnt easy, we don’t want to dig in and try in a West Ham sort of way.
And again, no real idea about getting forwards and breaking the opposition defence down.
So, so frustrating that its the same problem and CC doesnt seem to be doing much about it.
I forgot to mention the throw in… I had intended to. Basically, our player down injured (McGugan), I think it was Bennett who played the ball out so he could get treatment (referee seemed strangely less sympathetic to our players injuries than theirs), then the ref gave us the throw in! Very puzzling.
The ref was an utter utter idiot -but I don’t think a competent ref would have changed the result – although it’s hard to say as a decent ref would have clamped down on Donny’s inexplicable gamesmanship in the second half.
working last night so couldnt get to the game, so i let a mate have my season tickets….how embarrassing. once again we let ourselves down by apparantly not working hard enough, being greedy, bereft of inspiration etc etc. And then all i hear is ‘the ref was poor’!!! Yes, maybe, but according to my mates it wouldnt have mattered anyway. Get real lads, we may have the best most talented group of players in this division but something is going wrong…tactics, leadership, whatever…but if we dont pull together and put it right we will end up stuck in this division with gates of less than 10,000 and a team full of has-beens / loanees. Come on CC, earn your money, i dont want to hear “but we’re 2nd” etc, we are 2nd because teams around us keep slipping up too and the mighty bristol city have 2 games in hand now. god help us if we lose at their place. F**k me we should have had this div won by now.
We were out thought, out played and if such a phrase existed, out passioned!
CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP………….
I presonally couldn’t take ANY positives from last night’s game. Without Wes we would have been 3 down at half time. Why Donny reverted to such appalling gamesmanship is beyond me – when we wouldnt have scored if we’d played all night.
The bizarre throw in incident summed up the night – a farce. I couldn’t even be bothered to listen to Smoulders whining excuses on Radio Nottingham.
A very bad day at the office……
Yep the fact is WE are now a Notts County, a Peterborough and a Lincoln City rolled into one, the way we carry on.
When I was growing up these teams were in the third divison (apart from Notts) and were regarded as really small-time outfits.
If we remain in this poxy league for a third year I suppose it’s simple logic that we are a poxy outfit.
Now, no matter how much you love Forest and support them, the standard they play at – and feel comforable with – is undoubtedly poxy. Five goals? Hooray. One swallow doesn’t make a summer though. All season CC’s been sying we havenl;t played to our potential. Well, perhaps we have, and do, week-in, week-out. As fans we’re just gonna have to learn to live with it.
As stated above, what on earth are we going to do if we are promoted? raise our game? I don’t think so!
And when season ticket prices are plummeting across the higher divisions, will we end up paying more than a Bolton fan, perhaps?
Go on, people, give us some more moaning as though we haven’t had enough all season long!
We will win at Scunthorpe and we will get promoted, period! And you will all be here triumphant on Sunday. God you make me feel like an Accrington fan! Enough of this…
the thing is v,a,g, we could all probably swallow a defeat after a good run and then not played badly. In fact I would say we did when Oldham popped up at the City Ground, and then Scunthorpe. But the fact is that we havent been playing well at all recently and the problems are the same old ones we’ve actually had all season and there doesnt seem to be a sodding thing CC can do about it.
If we lost a spitited fight where, with all the guile and effort we still didnt score then fair enough.
We didn’t and its worrying that with us now going into the ‘business end’ of the season we can’t rectify the mistakes we keep making and we don’t seem to be able to get enough enthusiasm to be able to beat teams like Donny.
Its so annoying!
You’re right of course, if we beat Scunny then we’ll all be top of the world but what good will it do us if we then can’t follow that up by beating Gills the week after?
It’s not the team, as the personnel changes.
It’s not the manager – we’ve had a few.
It’s not the fans – we keep turning up and buying our season tickets to boost the coffers.
It must be something else.
And I’m not a moaning minnie – just trying to coem to terms with a new world order.
Maybe it’s one where we’re a top half of division three kinda team.
vassilis, i admire your passion and spirit. And i’m glad you’re forest. But you must understand that very few of the players play with those same qualities. They are for the most part a very talented team, but when we play against an ‘inferior’ side, we just cant mix it. And when i drive an hour to the ground, spend a few quid on the kids, remember what my 4 season tickets have cost me, i expect a performance. I want to be entertained. In 30 years we’ve had many highs and lots of lows, and still come back for more. I dont mind losing, but with endeavour, a bit of style, skill and graft.
We have a great club, with tremendous support, and maybe we moan and groan because we are scared to death that another season in this division is the end.
I dont want to watch my team struggling against the likes of rotherham, doncaster, yeovil. Sorry.
I think we all have a right to moan, unlike some around me in the mainstand who think you shouldn’t critisise CC. Season tickets up again last season after a ‘crap’ campaign. i think the management have to take stock and look internally at their decisions, there seems to be a groundswell building about the future of this club.
i am hearing increasing talk, backed up by declining attendances, about next season wherever we will be playing. Last season we accepted our fate, as we played boring, defensive non Forest tactics. We got rid of a loutish manager,although passionate, through i believe crowd pressure and Charlie’s forward thinking nearly got us in the playoffs. So what did we do, Doughty turned down Charlie’s punt for the job and we then appointed a manager who plays the same tactics( probably worse). Did this management not do their homework, did they base their decision on CC getting Northampton up after 3 attempts. Doughty (not financial) and Arthur have a lot to answer for. Couldn’t they have broken the bank and got Keane, look at him now, as aledgedly he came for talks. He has done wonders with Sunderland, not spent much, got seasoned pro’s, for nothing, who want to play for him ( Stern John, Yorke etc!!!)
i would like us to get promoted but not by playing this ‘crap’ and/or scrapeing it
If we do what next, defensive play to keep us in the Championship
A message CC, if a section of the main stand will allow:
Learn how to motivate this team, especially at half time
Play attacking football (as we did against Huddersfield)
get the midfield to dominate (most teams come to the city groung and play the better football)
Get Chambers into the side
Get people wide and in their best positions
Get Smith on the practise ground learning how to come off his line, catch the ball, throw or kick the ball to a red shirt
Or clear off – with Arthur
A bit of a rant, i know, but if this management do not stop the rot we will be in this division next season playing to 15k, not being able to pay good wages. People vote with their feet, i think we have been loyal to breaking point, enough may be enough