Through the seasons before us..

It’s a lot of money, I realise it was the ticket price for the weekend’s game up at Sincil Bank - but it still seems rather a rip off.  Now, with any cup game there are guidelines that have to be followed, for the first couple of rounds there’s a minimum price - which I believe to be £10 for ‘full’ price, so we’re already 70% ahead of that!

The probably more telling factor is that the clubs playing must be in accord for the pricing - the cash from the ticket sales is split three ways between both clubs, and the FA.  So if - in principle - Forest wanted to offer a reduced rate, then Lincoln City would have to agree to it for it to be put forward.

Whilst we took a good number of fans to Sincil Bank, and it’s my understanding the home allocation didn’t sell out, I reckon the replay at the City Ground holds more lure for the Imps fans than the Reds - which makes me wonder if that’s why the ticket prices remain higher than they ought to be.  If the away side is confident of selling plenty, then they’ll probably be keen to get a bigger price.

Of course, Forest could be assuming we might jump to these conclusions and think “sod it! let’s milk the buggers!” - but I don’t think so, they’ll be aware that with this pricing policy the attendance will be well down on what could have been achieved, which is probably less in Forest’s interests given food, beverage and merchandise sales etc.

I had been kicking myself for already having plans on the evening of 27th November, but since learning the ticket prices I’m not so upset to be missing this one - anyone fancy a sweepstake for the attendance?  I predict under 10,000 for a starter, for a frankly uninspiring (no disrespect) fixture on a cold November tuesday night..

.. it’s not because we think we can beat them more easily (let’s face it, on our day the team at the bottom of the league can hold us to a replay, and who knows whether we’ll win that?), it’s just to save us from another trip to the godawful Kenilworth Road - because Luton Town are the alternative side on offer to us in the next round of the FA Cup, should we progress.

Yes, today was FA Cup draw day - and despite former Reds midfielder Steve Hodge being involved, it wasn’t a particularly good one from our point of view.  Another away draw, against teams a fair distance away - one of whom we’ve already travelled to this season (and been beaten by!) in the league.

So I’m not too inspired, for a change!  But first on the agenda is the replay against Lincoln of course, well, indeed - that comes second behind the league game against Crewe.  So we’ve got plenty of distractions to occupy ourselves before we have to worry about it - ordinarily I’d not worry about the cup at all, but when it’s the FA Cup you can’t help but want to be in the next draw.

So anyway, to return to topic - good luck to Brentford against Luton!

Lincoln City - 1
Nottingham Forest - 1

Let’s start with the good news, Nottingham boxer Carl Froch beat Robin Reid live on Sky last night (or, indeed, at the Nottingham Arena if you actually went), and Derby got spannered 5-0 at home by West Ham United.  But still, that’s scant consolation for Forest failing to get past bottom-of-the-league Lincoln City in their first competitive meeting in decades.

Smoulds started the game as we’ve finished the last couple, kind of, with two strikers in a more conventional four-four-two formation - Davies being the unlucky midfielder who made way for Nathan Tyson, pushing Clingan out to the right of midfield, with McGugan and Cohen in the middle, and Commons on the left.  So certainly a first-choice lineup from Forest.

Agogo stated what turned out to be something other than our long-term intent, with a quick turn and volley from 30 yards in the opening couple of minutes - but this was just wide of the goal.  The Lincoln ‘keeper had a bit of work to do shortly after this with two corners from Forest, but not particularly good ones it has to be said.

Agogo again came close when he was on the end of a Nathan Tyson cross at the near post, but a defender was able to challenge successfully and concede a corner to the Reds.  The goal was to come for Forest though, with good build up play - Tyson crossed to Commons who struck a first time cross-cum-shot type effort that Agogo planted his head onto - the keeper fumbled, the ball might’ve crossed the line, but McGugan was on hand to ensure it did - and it seems he’s been credited with the goal!

Shortly after this Sammy Clingan did well to burst forward with the ball, eventually sending the ball out wide to Commons who crossed in towards Agogo, whose header from around 12 yards out rebounded from the crossbar.  Up to this point, the game went pretty much as you would expect considering league placings and recent form - but the worm was about to turn.

The Imps equalised after the rightback, Paul Green, sent a low cross to the near post where Kelvin Wilson unfortunately stuck out a largely unnecessary leg which diverted the ball beyond Paul Smith - who appeared to have made a call for the ball - and into the net giving the defender an unfortunate own goal.

After the goal this roused the home side significantly - taking the game to Forest much more, most notably putting in another dangerous cross just before half time which Ian Breckin was forced to head over his own bar for a corner to the Imps.  Half time came and it was all square.  Forest probably had the best of most of the half, but Lincoln came back looking stronger towards the end.

The second half started well for the home side, with N’Guessan standing out with his wideplay on both sides of the park.  Smith had a save to make from him to turn the ball around for a corner.  Dodds had a decent effort blocked by Chambers, but eventually Forest were starting to come back into it.

Agogo had the best chance of the game when Commons put him clear one-on-one with the ‘keeper - but he took his shot early from the edge of the penalty area and missed the target completely.  Disappointing from the striker who certainly found the net more easily from a more difficult chance against Southend in the week!

Shortly after this Forest rattled the crossbar for the second time of the game - a piledriver of a strike from 30 yards, with the keeper - around 6 yards off his line - completely beaten, but sadly it didn’t quite dip enough and rebounded well back into play from the crossbar, falling to a defender who was able to clear easily.

Agogo was withdrawn for Arron Davies with around a quarter of an hour left on the clock, but despite five minutes of stoppage time at the end, Forest were unable to break down a dogged Lincoln side - the closest they came was when McGugan drove a low cross into the box which was cleared for a corner - this corner was taken and headed goalward by Breckin but Lincoln ‘keeper Alan Marriott was on hand to make an impressive save.

On balance a draw was probably fair - and there was an element of the Imps raising their game, but almost certainly one of Forest dropping their recent performance levels too.  This is disappointing, despite my head saying the FA Cup is a pretty pointless endeavour for us, my heart yearns for us to be in the competition, and I suppose at least our name will feature in tomorrow’s draw, albeit with the caveat of ‘Lincoln City or’ being said immediately before.

It’s unlikely the replay will happen a week on tuesday as would be normal, due to the international issues we have that has caused the Carlisle game to be postponed, so we await to find out when we can welcome Lincoln City to the City Ground for the replay.  Ho hum.  It’s not particularly inspiring, but I suppose it’s not the end of the world either!

NB: It’s just been confirmed on t’radio that the game will take place two weeks on tuesday, after the Crewe game.  So Tuesday 27th November - and the really good news is it makes it too late to be considered for being televised!  Get in!

Nottingham Forest - 4
Southend United - 1

Well the league table is looking a lot rosier now, up to second place with a barnstorming win against promotion rivals Southend United at the City Ground this evening.  We started with the same lineup as saturday, which had me spitting feathers almost immediately, as we’d looked so much more composed with two strikers on the pitch against Tranmere.

At the time I hadn’t realised that it was a ricochet from a Clingan clearance that sliced apart our defence and left Mark Gower with an opportunity to put an absolute pearler of a shot past Paul Smith with just two minutes on the clock.  I’d assumed it was a killer throughball and poor defending, so it’s reassuring to realise it was at least a bit of an unfortunate mixup!

Forest did respond positively, but did look disjointed and uneasy.  Commons and Cohen seemed to alternate as the ’second striker’ in a kind of 4-4-2 formation, but we did seem to revert to a 4-5-1 quite readily leaving Junior Agogo with little or no options upfront, or indeed when he was deep in midfield or on the wing as he seemed to be!

Commons had the first real chance for us - a Cohen cross found him six yards out from goal, but he could only get a feeble left foot onto it giving the ‘keeper little trouble.  McGugan had a freekick deflected for a corner which came to nothing, and from here to around the half hour mark the game did descend into quite a scrappy affair reminiscent of the first half on saturday.

After half an hour Agogo put a decent cross in after good work from Davies, but the keeper was on hand to take the ball away from the danger as Commons was looming, giving Forest a corner - and a spell on increased pressure which was notably starting to rattle the Shrimpers who were starting to make unforced errors.

The equaliser came before half time.  After a corner was cleared the ball reached Clingan on the right who put in a terrific cross to the back stick, where an unmarked Breckin was able to launch himself at the ball and plant an unstoppable header into the back of the net.  This gave the Reds what was probably just about a deserved equaliser.

Forest started the second half with much more purpose (sound familiar?!), three minutes in and after yet another foul on Kris Commons, Clingan delivered a decent freekick into the box from which Chambers planted a powerful header onto the post.  Shortly after this Agogo also came close - Commons released him down the left and his first time shot flashed across the goal and wide.

Southend weren’t without opportunities though, a corner was played into the danger zone and bounced about all over the place - an unconfident looking Smith failed to get a punch on it, and fortunately for us it bounced off a Southend player and out for a goal kick.  Commons was booked after this for a poor challenge.

The long awaited introduction of Nathan Tyson now happened, it was Davies who was withdrawn from the action, with Commons switching sides and Cohen moving left and Tyson taking a place upfront alongside Agogo.  And minutes later he’d given us the lead - Cohen played him through, he looked suspiciously offside to me, but he showed great composure to take the ball on and finish calmly into the Trent End.

Almost immediately after this Clarke of Southend had a tussle with Chambers in the corner near the away fans, Clarke had wrestled Luke to the floor and practically removed his shirt before the were on their feet and squaring up to one another.  Chambers was cunning enough not to do a great deal as Clarke lunged towards him - at which Chambers duly collapsed in a heap as though he’d been poleaxed.

Now my understanding of the rules is that an intent to headbutt or shoulder is a red card, in which case the referee made the right decision (indeed, the guy could’ve been booked for the wrestling, and then again for the lunge if need be), so I think the referee did get the decision right, despite Tilson’s protestations, however I was disappointed to see Chambers to blatantly playact in this manner.

After the card, the Southend side that had looked composed in the first half looked disjointed and easily outnumbered - their policy of putting 2-3 men on Tyson when he had the ball left wide open spaces elsewhere, which gave Forest ample opportunity to enjoy plenty of possession and never really look overly troubled again in the game.

The third goal came when Agogo picked up the ball 30 yards from goal, he shaped to shoot a couple of times, and just as it looked like his chance had gone, from somewhere he unleashed a fantastic curling shot low to the right of the goal.  I would think the ‘keeper would be unhappy with not reaching it, although it was coming through a crowded area - so perhaps I’m being overly harsh.

Commons came close shortly after this, taking too long over a chance infront of goal and allowing a defender to get a block in to concede a corner.  From this corner the ball fell eventually to Brecks of all people, who was only able to direct his shot pretty much straight at the goalkeeper giving him some much needed respite.

Cohen worked well to provide another chance for Commons, but it was deflected and easy for the keeper to parry in the end.  A brief spell of Southend pressure followed, but Forest were to be granted a fourth goal - Tyson had a chance to cross which was blocked, but it came back to him and his second effort found Agogo in the box to head home his second, and Forests’ fourth.

Commons and Agogo were withdrawn at this point for Morgan who again took up a bizarre midfield role, and Emile Sinclair for a run out - after which it was basically a whole load of keepball from Forest as they wound down the clock until full time - after which it transpired that results hadn’t quite all gone our way - but Orient and Carlisle only drawing puts us second, and only a point off the top.

Of course, it’s Carlisle up next for us in the league after the distraction of an FA Cup game against Lincoln City - although Forest are in the process of trying to get this postponed due to international callups - so it may be that we don’t have a shot at the top as soon as we’d perhaps like whilst confidence is running high.

A big well done to the Reds - a great comeback and second half performance against a promotion rival is a cracking achievement.  After the disappointment of a poor 0-0 draw against Oldham this has been a great response to start to put points on the board, I’m certainly feeling very smug now!

… it may be easy if you try, but a message from his agent today suggesting that the wandering midfielder will be back in Nottingham in the near future.  He has reiterated that the midfielder was away resolving an issue with his family, and not - as has been widely rumoured - any kind of rift with Nottingham Forest or any of the staff there.

Martin Reilly - Lenny’s agent - confirmed that he was due back in the midlands today, and will be in contention for playing at the weekend, with a week or so out of training making tomorrow night’s game unlikely.  Pleasingly he offered reassurance for Lennon’s short term goals:

“Neil will be back in Nottingham today.  This was never about any problems he had with Nottingham Forest, it was always about the family issue that he had to resolve.  But, as I said, he is only interested in playing for Nottingham Forest and getting them in the Championship.  This is his goal for the rest of the season, then we will look at the next step in the summer.”

So it will be good to welcome Neil back into the fold, whilst we saw a much improved performance from the Reds in the second half against Tranmere, we have missed his composure in the middle of the park in our recent games at the City Ground.  Increasingly I think in a 4-4-2 lineup we don’t miss him so much, so hopefully that’s the approach Smoulders will adopt for the game against Southend tomorrow.

In other news, Kris Commons has won the Powerade player of the month award for October, which is quite an achievement considering in my opinion he only played exceptionally well during the first half of it!  And Grant is finally scheduled to have his hernia operation tomorrow - which is long overdue as the striker has not been looking fit for some time - so hopefully he gets himself recovered quickly and back to his best!

It was broken on the local media this morning that the audacious plans Forest have for a ground move have developed a pace.  The original proposal suggested that the likely spot for the new development was to be between Gotham and Clifton out near the M1, with boasts of a new train station, a tram route and the widening of the A453.

But suggestions locally are that the Nottingham City Council - a partner in the scheme - are keener to secure a location closer to the City Centre, presumably so the city of Nottingham can benefit more directly from events that take place at the new arena.  Now that opens up all kinds of interesting ideas for speculating on potential locations for something as huge as a 50,000 capacity football stadium.

Obviously whichever developer is awarded the construction will have a say, as will Forest and the councils representing Nottingham and Rushcliffe Borough - where the City Ground is.  Having a little think about it, I’m struggling to come up with likely areas that are truly close to the City Centre - although the ‘East Side’ area near the BBC studios seems like a big space currently unused that could fit the bill.

A move to within striking distance of the city centre sweetens the prospect for me incredibly.  Of course, it seems inconceivable that we’ll need a ground of this size - but I suppose you have to plan for the future, and with England bidding to host the World Cup in 2018 there’s a potentially great opportunity to sneak ahead of other Midlands venues in securing a piece of the World Cup action.

That said, the City Ground is a dear place to my heart - as I’m sure it is for many other fans - and coupled with it being difficult to imagine us needing such a venue, even in eleven years, do provide mental stumbling blocks to me fully embracing this scheme.  There are a few considerations that could, whilst not make-or-break the idea for me (after all, I’m stuck with Forest whether I like it or not!), but it will impact on my whingeing levels!

1. The location should be walkable from the city centre and the railway station - that’s a real benefit of the City Ground now, whilst it’s a reasonable walk from town, it is most certainly doable.  Depending on the new location, this convenience factor could be improved upon with a new location - particularly should the area near the BBC building between Sneinton and the city be utilised.

2. The increased capacity should create a serious review of pricing, the opportunity to fill the ground should be taken.  We can only assume we will have a more impressive league placing which will help to draw the crowds, but it would be awful if we end up with Sunderland-like attendances upon moving to a huge new ground.

3. To get away from the ’silent new ground’ situation that you see at other midlands grounds, and places like the City of Manchester stadium - there should be plans to try to locate like-minded fans together.  Let the singers sit together, let the quieter fans sit together, and try to minimise the friction that can occur between different types of supporter too.

4. The design of the stadium is paramount.  If we end up with yet another clone of a flat-pack bowl affair like Pride Park, the Walkers Stadium, the Riverside Stadium et al, then I will be deeply deeply unhappy.  It is essential that Forest don’t do this on the cheap, and deliver a stadium that has character, and great facilities.  Coupled with this is the name of it, which is a real tricky one - but it had better not be some kind of corporate sponsorship name!

5. There should be no ground-share with Notts County.  I don’t need to qualify that any further.

6. If this move is to happen seriously, then we need to see a dramatic improvement on the pitch between now and then.  How embarrassing would it be to still be in League One with a brand new 50,000 seater stadium?  It’s bad enough as it is with our current capacity being regularly grossly under utilised due to a combination of poor football and over-inflated prices for our level.

They were the six factors that immediately occur to me, I’m sure there are many other things I haven’t considered in my haste to ramble on about it.  The suggestion that Clifton is - whilst not off the agenda - moving down in favour of somewhere more reachable for fans, has really improved my thoughts about the idea of making a very emotional move from the City Ground.

Nottingham Forest - 2
Tranmere Rovers - 0

Smoulds described the game post-match as “chalk and cheese” - and he was dead right, a poor first half was followed by a, whilst not exactly sparkling, decent second - which saw a Junior Agogo penalty and an excellently taken Nathan Tyson volley deliver the goals that gave us the points, and take us up to 4th in the table, just three points off the top!

Tranmere started the brighter, or - in realistic terms - they were the least shit in the opening stages.  Smith’s first action was to palm away a header from Gareth “the elbows” Taylor after a corner from the left.  McGugan looked bright early on, but still has that tendency to try one trick too many before releasing the ball.

Sammy picked up a deserved booking for a needlessly late and reckless challenge, shortly after this was the first of several penalty shouts - Cohen was hauled to the deck by Kay when Commons crossed, but the referee in his infinite wisdom ignored this and waved play on.  Shortly after this Breckin was blatantly held down in the area by Taylor as a corner came in, again the referee ignored this.

Unsurprisingly it was the former Forest frontman who was next into the book, fouling Breckin for the second time in a couple of minutes.  Davies - starting for the first time in a red shirt - nearly broke the deadlock with a bit of magic, looking to be heading nowhere wide of the area, he flicked the ball past a defender before turning smartly and volleying forcing a save from the keeper.

The last real action of the first half was McGugan picking up a deserved booking for a ridiculously late challenge on McLaren - the half ended, there were some boos again - definitely a better showing than against Oldham, but that’s not saying much really!  At half time a policeman was pelted with a meat pie in the Upper Bridgford concourse.  Of course, I don’t condone throwing pastry products at law enforcers, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

The second half started really rather well for the Reds.  Julian Bennett whipped in a decent cross into the box, and under pressure from Agogo, Sherriff handballed in the box, and finally the referee didn’t bottle a decision and pointed to the spot.  Commons rushed off after the ball at this point, but the cunning Agogo popped to a nearby ballboy to get one, thus claiming the spotkick.

He took it calmly right-footed to the left of the goal, sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.  The goal sparked the Forest crowd into life, and bizarrely the travelling Tranmere fans too - who’d been fairly quiet ’til this point.  The banter flowed and it seemed for once the away fans were getting a harder time from the security staff than the home fans!

The turning point came however when Smoulders introduced Tyson for the quiet Commons.  Not particularly because of the individuals involved, but because we switched to 4-4-2.  Now, this 4-3-3 formation we’ve been playing (which is really 4-5-1) is not some kind of tactical masterstroke, it’s a case of the manager’s hand being forced because he doesn’t have enough strikers.

With Agogo having a partner to combine with he became much more impactful in the game, and with width in midfield we were able to keep the ball much more easily.  Within minutes Tyson was cynically felled by a Tranmere player, costing him a booking.

Smith had something to do with a high dipping cross that was looking goalbound, punching away to Taylor - who characteristically spannered it high, wide and not particularly handsome.  A similarly tricky cross came in shortly after which again Smith was on hand to tip over the bar.

After the corner from this, Forest broke with breathtaking pace - which was a joy to behold.  Chambers broke out the area, found Agogo who fed the ball on to Tyson.  The defender covering was cunning enough to keep Tyson on his right foot, and when the shot eventually came he was able to block it.

Bennett again was the architect of the second goal, a brilliant cross was lofted in - Tyson cleverly slipped his marker to position himself infront of goal to get a tremendous volley on the dropping ball, which crashed into the net off the crossbar in the Trent End.  It would have been a very easy chance to have missed!

Forest looked comfortable for a spell after this - Davies brought a save from the keeper, Tyson almost got on the end of a Cohen cross, Davies then brought another save from Coyne in the Tranmere net.  Tyson was in action to push the ball across goal, but Cohen, Agogo and Davies couldn’t quite get on the end of it.

Gradually though Tranmere worked their way back into the game, Smith did brilliantly to save a goalbound header onto the post - the rebound pinged around in the box a while before the ball was cleared, and that was pretty much the end of the action - a deserved three points for the Reds, but not a great performance.  But that will do for me!

A surprise rumour doing the rounds is that Roy Keane is considering making Smoulds an offer he can’t refuse to bring the services of James Perch to Sunderland.  £850k is the figure being touted, and frankly, that does seem like a good offer for the utility player who hasn’t really made much headway in breaking back into the team this season after supposedly being moved into a rightback role.

I have a lot of time for Perch, he’s in danger of ‘doing a Thompson’ by being too versatile, since breaking into the side we’ve seen him play in pretty much every position across midfield and defence.  Originally a centreback, we’ve probably seen him most in a central or right-midfield role.  I must admit, in Smoulds’ position, if a bid of that amount came in I’d be pretty tempted to consider it - particularly since he doesn’t seem to be featuring in our first team plans.

Not that I’d want him to leave, of course - I do think he has a lot of potential, and before the season started stated I’d like to see him given a run in a regular position that he can develop properly into.  The rightback berth seemed the most logical choice for this, although Chambers (last couple of games notwithstanding) has been doing a good job in that position, so it makes it tricky for the youngster to find a way into the side - particularly when we’ve strengthened in midfield so heavily this season.

In other news, Hamza Bencherif and Felix Bastians have had their loans spells with Lincoln City and Chesterfield extended, although Hamza won’t be allowed to feature in our forthcoming cup tie with the Imps.  And Leicester City defender Clive Clarke, who collapsed during half time in the abandoned cup tie, attended Forest vs. Oldham and is in good health, and looking to return to training later this month - which is great news.