Notts County - 1
Nottingham Forest - 2
Okay, perhaps it was never really going to be Sir Spencer Weir-Daley day! I’m currently listening with disbelief to Radio Nottingham as it appears that there has been a clash between Notts and Forest fans on the pitch at Lego Lane at the full time whistle - lord help us tomorrow if the same kind of idiots are intent on trouble with our ‘proper’ rivals. The radio reported the incident kicking off as a result of Forest fans invading the pitch at the end - and let’s face it, there’s absolutely no need for it.
Credit must go to Smoulders and his coaching staff, who apparently waded into the incident as fans clashed to help the stewards tell the fans to get back and behave themselves - very admirable actions amidst some shameful behaviour apparently from both sets of fans. Whilst I wasn’t particularly excited by this game, it was apparently a reasonably good game and it’s a shame for it to finish in turmoil like this - particularly in such an utterly meaningless fixture.
But anyway, it was 1-1 at half time, with Forest arguably the better side - Chambers scored for us when Pilkington fluffed a cross after just four minutes, with Mackenzie equalising after a sloppy backpass. Notts also hit the bar, and Brown almost scored for the Reds just before half time. The winning goal also came from Luke Chambers towards the end of the game, before of course full time and craziness from the supporters, which is bound to dominate the local headlines tomorrow.
Prosecutions for perpetrators are likely to be forthcoming, and without seeing what happened it’s hard to comment upon it - from pieceing together the comments on the media it sounds like Forest fans invaded the pitch first, and presumably illicited a response from some of the home fans as well - so idiocy on both sides of the Trent abounds, which is a real pity.
On a lighter note, I’ve had my attention drawn to a ‘Smoulderwood’ appreciation society that somebody has setup on Facebook - so if you’re a member of the site and want to show your appreciation, then feel free to join a bunch of likeminded folks! I might just register for it now, as if I don’t already waste enough time on the internet! Surely his amateur stewarding abilities is worthy of admiration alone, so join up!
Click 
30 July, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Shitttttttttttttttt!! If there is trouble tonight against the Whining Maggies then Basra is gonna seem like a quiet backwater after “The Battle of Pride Park” tomorrow.
Im glad Im not going!!
31 July, 2007 at 8:42 am
Good game, after all their fighting talk we still manage to beat them…with our reserves!
still counting down the minutes to tonight. I reckon Wes Morgan, 89th, diving header.
31 July, 2007 at 9:14 am
Such a shame that much of the reports will be about the pitch invasion when from a Forest perspective the game leaves us much to be positive about. Ok fair enough County had a lot of new faces and a back 4 yet to gel but from the sounds of it our 6 youngsters ripped them apart in the first 15-20 minutes with the midfielders supporting the attack - an art form seemingly lost from the first team for much of the last few seasons.
I’ve kept an eye on match reports for the reserves and U18 last season and its pleasing to see that it seems that the lads can transfer their form at this level to at least a league two standard.
Ok it was just a friendly and all but in the likes of Reid, Sinclair, Brown and Thornhill the future looks very positive indeed.
I’m really annoyed that we are unable to focus more on that rather than the future, or lack of, of some of our fanbase.