Through the seasons before us..

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.

Nottingham Forest - 5
Huddersfield Town - 1

A strange match from the Reds - the opening exchanges saw Huddersfield pressing Forest with dangerous wingplay, but little end product.  Paul Smith had a couple of easy attempts to deal with - but suddenly Forest burst into life on six minutes, James Perch lofting a ball over the Huddersfield defence where he found Junior Agogo who had burst through to beat the offside trap - he kept his head and lofted the ball expertly over the hesitantly advancing Glennon.

The next incident of note was a sad one, Sammy Clingan fell awkwardly after a challenge and was eventually stretchered off and replaced by Lewis McGugan - later reports on the radio have confirmed that Sammy has broken his ankle which is terrible news for the midfielder.  The good news, though, is that his replacement Lewis McGugan slotted straight into his role - and was on the scoresheet within six minutes of his introduction!

A Commons corner was flicked goalward by Ian Breckin, but was put out for a corner on the line - the subsequent corner from the other side - it looked like Breckin headed it backwards from the other end of the ground, but the ball fell to Lewis McGugan in the D, who unleashed an absolute piledriver from the edge of the box giving the keeper no chance at all of a save , and giving the young midfielder his first senior goal which he must be delighted with.

The third goal came after excellent work from James Perch - he charged his way down the right holding off a Huddersfield defender before playing a firm ball into the six yard box where Grant Holt was waiting to sweep the ball into the net from close range.  Shortly after this a rare Huddersfield incursion saw Smith tip a curling shot around the post, conceding a corner - but the pressure was short-lived and it wasn’t to be long before Forest were to claim their fourth.

Commons crossed from wide on the left and Perch had found himself in several acres of space to excellently execute a side-footed volley at an awkward height to leave Forest fans scratching their heads and wondering quite how to react to such emphatic finishing from the Reds.  Huddersfield had some pressure in the final stages of the half, but frankly were already looking a well-beaten side.

The first half scoreline is perhaps slightly misleading - Forest were uncharacteristically clinical in both picking out the eventual goalscorers and more so with their finishing of chances.  Whilst Huddersfield defended dreadfully, they did show moments of promise going forward although lacked the personnel to apply the finishing touch - which is perhaps forgivable given the absense of their top goalscorer from the lineup.

The second half began in a scrappy fashion - the majority of us present were expecting the usual “drop deep and defend like buggery” mentality we’ve seen from Forest with slim leads, but this wasn’t to be so - we chased down even when the ball was in the Huddersfield defence, and whilst Huddersfield offered something on occasion, there was great work in defence and midfield - particularly from Gary Holt - to break up and disrupt their possession.

Bennett picked up a surreal booking - after a challenge he landed with a Huddersfield defender who appeared from my vantage point to be held down in a headlock for much of the scuffle, after consulting with the clearly hallucinating linesman, the referee deigned to book Benno whilst taking no action against the Huddersfield strangler - an odd decision indeed, presumably at the hands of the linesman.

Forest continued to forge opportunities and Commons was desperately unlucky - not for the last time in the match - to not end up on the scoresheet with a right footed shot that the keeper was able to tip onto the crossbar.  The fifth did come though, and what a great build up - Agogo headed the ball onto Grant Holt, who gently headed a throughball to put Agogo clear once again of the offside trap and calmly round the keeper before stroking the ball into the empty goal.

Let me say that again - Grant Holt and Junior Agogo played a one-two in headers to setup the goal - and that epitomised the confidence with which the Reds passed the ball around in spells for this game.  Commons again came close with a freekick that had the beating of the keeper, but dropped just onto the net, shortly after this Agogo could’ve sealed a hattrick when he headed a Commons cross wide, Grant perhaps should have done better - bringing a good save from Glennon with a right-footed drive.

The ideal clean sheet wasn’t to be, unfortunately - Huddersfield didn’t really deserve a consolation goal in my view, but some confusion in defence after a Danny Schofield cross came to Matthew Young who volleyed it into the ground for it to bounce into the net.  The long-suffering Huddersfield fans cheers were largely muffled by the ironic cheers from the Forest fans who - for the first time in a long time - had no worries of any realistic chance of not claiming the three points.

Grant Holt looked to have done everything right to claim his brace after this, beating the offside trap and attempting to lob the keeper, unfortunately his touch was a little too hard and it took the ball over.  By this point Forest were able to keep possession to shouts of “ole!” from the crowd - at one point a poor Huddersfield player was nutmegged not once, but twice by Julian Bennett and then Gary Holt!  Kris Commons’ last good chance saw him beat two defenders wide on the right by the touchline, but his fierce shot from a tight angle deflected out.

A great performance from the Reds - and not a flattering scoreline at all - we were much more clinical in the first half, taking practically every good chance we had and scoring, in the second we were less so - we had 8 or 9 very good goalscoring opportunities over the course of the game, to have converted 5 is hugely rewarding and to have four different scorers is also a big boost.  Of course, this must be tempered with the sad news of Sammy Clingan’s broken ankle, but if Lewis McGugan can grasp this opportunity he showed the makings of a very good midfielder.

We’re back up to second, we’ve given our goal difference a much needed boost and it’s so great to see so many young lads in the side again.  Big Wes, Perchy, Benno, McGugan and latterly Robert Hughes all featured, and are all players who’ve come through the ranks (in Benno’s case via a spell in Walsall) - and the experienced heads did a good job today.  Gary Holt is readily singled out by all and sundry - he had a bloody good game today.  Agogo will rightly take the headlines, but I don’t think there was anything short of an excellent performance from everyone on the pitch today - well done lads!

Smoulds continues to be a bit baffling in interviews - he played down the performance, and said whilst he was happy with the result he was merely satisfied and thought we could have done more, a fair point that if our finishing had been as good in the second as the first half, we really could have enjoyed the kind of rout we’ve not seen for many many years at the City Ground - but considering his enthusiasm over performances a lot more dour, I’m sure he’ll be getting a few critical comments from the internet community!