Luton Town - 1
Nottingham Forest - 0
Before the game Smoulderwood said we had nothing to fear from Luton Town, from anybody. He was wrong. We should have feared our own inability to stand up and be counted in games like this. We should have feared him not picking a sensible formation (four central midfielders, with two wingers on the bench?).
Had we heeded these fears, and contested the match sensibly, then we may well be looking forward to a new year cup tie with Liverpool rather than falling back on the tired (whilst perfectly valid) old cliche of concentrating on the league. This is the reward that the poor buggers who travelled to Kenilworth Road were granted - whereby there wasn’t even the day out to compensate for the poor performance that those of us who went to Chelsea last season could take solace in.
Of course, the bright side to this is that this appalling display has probably reinforced the conviction that Liverpool - this evening pulling a European cat out of the bag and progressing to the knockout stages (the bastards!) - would have absolutely annihilated us in the next round. Probably by only fielding their reserves.
You may detect I’m a little peeved about all this. You see, I don’t mind losing - and I do prioritise the league above everything else, but there is no excuse for us not to compete, not to try. The feedback I’m hearing is that this is precisely what happened, and frankly that is no way to reward fans much more committed than I who travel the country to often be subject to dirge.
So anyway, as to the game, Luton are decent at home - we know this already, they beat us in the league! It took 20 minutes for either side to start to create, and inevitably it was the home side with Smith kept very busy in keeping Forest in the match. The Reds got forward, but created little. By the end of the half Luton had Forest pinned in their own half for around 15 minutes solid.
It was only 8 minutes into the second half when Luton got their goal - Spring crossed and Andrew was on hand to convert at the back post. Shortly after this Lockwood handled in the penalty area, fortunately the referee opted to give a freekick on the edge instead. Forest did start to show some promise after falling behind, however.
Lockwood shot on the volley from 18 yards from a Grant Holt pass, coaxing the first save of the match from the home goalkeeper. Luton still looked dangerous on the break though. Smoulds introduced Agogo and Commons for Tyson and McGugan, whilst leaving potential danger-outlet Arron Davies sitting on the bench.
The best chance Forest had was created by Cohen who latched onto a ball in the middle of the park, he beat the ‘keeper but unfortunately the shot didn’t have enough power to cross the line, enabling a Luton defender to track back in time to clear the ball. Luton then went on the offensive and but for some desperate blocks by Perchy could’ve extended their lead.
So there ends another cup run, and a chance to cash in on a televised home tie. Once again when called upon with die with a whimper rather than with a bang, and once again we get left feeling let down. On the bright side, on that kind of performance Liverpool would’ve put more than six past us, and we would officially be worse than Derby!
So, let’s concentrate on the league now, shall we? Good luck to Luton against the filthy Scousers, I’ll certainly be cheering on you in the new year. At least their players might get paid now…
Click 
11 December, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Utter garbage.
No Passion. No Commitment. No Nothing.
Anybody want a seat for Saturday.
I’m going to the Park to watch the kids play. They have Passion. They have Commitment. They want it !!!!!
12 December, 2007 at 12:30 am
Useless, called it as soon as I saw the draw.
No matter how much money we spend and the players we attract, we always seem to be average at best !
12 December, 2007 at 12:38 am
Its sounds crazy but I was almost relieved they lost. The thought of being trounced by Liverpool was not all that attractive for me. Yes it would have made us some money, yes it would have been something to look forward to, but quite frankly it would have been a distraction from the league. I am viewing this campaign like no other before it in that it is going to be one long and arduous trek to the end to get enough points to get out of this league and that is all that matters.
I don’t like the way we apparently didn’t compete as the travelling fans deserved better, I also don’t like seeing CC get it so tactically wrong, but nevertheless, its happened and the players need to get on with the only thing that counts - promotion!!
12 December, 2007 at 2:06 am
I went today.
£32 for a train ticket from portsmouth, then 8 for ticket.
I’m still miffed about the result, however it was the manner of the defeat, we didn’t try, we lacked anything, The created chances (the ones we had), is where we played the balll on the floor.
What happend to 2 weeks ago against crewe where it was nothing but on the floor crisp passing.
Once again great support and banter for the forest supporters.
Cliche, but now we can concertrate on the leg, rather than concertrating on keeping the score down against liverpool.
12 December, 2007 at 7:37 am
So grant holt won’t be getting his wish after all then… a glamour tie putting himself in the shop window looking for a bigger club. If that performance is anything to go by, chances are we’ll be stuck with the same team next year in the same shitty division cos nobody is gonna want to sign any of our lot.
Fucking big-time charlies.
12 December, 2007 at 9:25 am
what worries me is that in the aftermatch interview cc claimed we were in control of the game until they scored and that luton didnt look particularly dangerous. exactly which game was he watching? i am truly worried about our prospects if he really believes that crap. he even seemed happy with the ‘diamond’ formation and how the midfield performed even tho we were utterly dominated and getting killed down the flanks. totally frustrated is an understatement for how i feel this morning. i actually thought that cc had learned from last season’s tactical and selection cock-ups, but apparently i was wrong. nothing less than 6 points in the league b4 xmas is now acceptable
12 December, 2007 at 11:59 am
Having just won at Brighton, how can you change the formation and also bring in all your defensive cenre midfield players? Once again, Colin shows his lack of tactical ability.
12 December, 2007 at 1:33 pm
How come us Forest fans can become so negative, so quickly? We’ve lost 3 times in the league all season and are third in the table, so perhaps CC is doing something right? No team/manager is going to get it right everytime.
I wonder if the Man U forums were full of fans moaning about Fergie when they lost 1-0 to Bolton??
(Having said that, I would be p!ssed off shelling out loads of cash to not see any effort from players….)
12 December, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I think that’s just it though, JG - it’s not the result, it’s the manner of the result. On the league front I’m largely very pleased with how it’s going… It irks me that over 1,000 Reds fans travelled to a game where, by all accounts, the required effort even to compete - let alone win - wasn’t evident on the pitch.
13 December, 2007 at 12:36 pm
NFFC, it would irk me too. But I think the majority of fans realise that’s what’s going to happen now (look at all cup attendances for us over the last few seasons). I would defo not travel to Luton on a Tuesday evening to watch us in a cup game.
I’d rather we lost dismally in all cups and got promoted to Championship!!
17 December, 2007 at 2:19 am
I wouldn’t mind if we lost in al cup ties.
It’s just the fact, that i would like to show some comitment and passion in cups performances.
The Supporters show enough has NFFC says, over 1000 on a tuesday night is a great number.
The players just didn’t seem to do the business. I agree fully that Calderwood was watching a differen’t game Luton were on top throughtout the first half. Smith coming to the rescue again.
Hope we can push on for promotion.