Sporting Clube de Portugal – 0
Nottingham Forest – 1

Bizarrely this evening we added some silverware to our recently unchanged trophy cabinet with an against the odds pre-season triumph in our first friendly against Sporting.  A second half Paul Anderson strike (see below) was enough to secure the win for the travelling Reds infront of an impressive following of travelling Forest fans.

Having half-watched the game courtesy of an internet stream, I didn’t get the best view of the action – and the Portuguese commentary didn’t really elucidate matters for me a great deal, however it was good to see the Reds in action.  So this won’t be a match report in the conventional sense.

Forest lined up with Camp in goal, Wilson at rightback, Morgan and Chambers in the centre of defence (Chambers wearing the Captain’s armband) and Cohen at left back.  In midfield Anderson and Davies were on the flanks with Moussi and McGugan in the middle.  Adebola and McGoldrick up front.

Impressions of the first half were Sporting looking more composed, and had chances – but Forest did knock the ball around really well at times, McGugan nearly finished off a great move but just lost control at the crucial moment.  Adebola looked a handful, and all in all half time came with me feeling quite positive, albeit highlighting our need for defensive cover.

Half time saw Smith replace Camp, Tyson replace Adebola and McCleary on for Wilson.  McCleary in particular was involved for much of our good moments in the second half, playing at rightback but getting forward really quickly.  This left us potentially exposed to counters down the left, one of which culminated in the excellent Moutinho hitting the bar for the home side.

However, the only goal of the game came for the Reds, McCleary on the ball on the right edge of the area cut inside to clip a left-footed cross over to Anderson who converted the chance, lashing a shot across the goalkeeper into the far side of the goal.  A good finish to a good piece of work from McCleary.  All in all, most rewarding!

A great moment for the travelling Reds too, particularly as the Reds appeared to be awarded a trophy which Chambers took to the travelling fans to celebrate with.  An unexpectedly cracking start to pre-season, well done to Billy and the boys!

In transfer rumour news, Blackpool appear to be resigned to losing Forest target Shaun Barker.  Whether it is us or Derby who are close to securing his services remains to be seen.  Certainly we need to be looking to strengthen our defensive options – we finished the game this evening with only two defenders on the pitch!

"And for my next trick.."

Nottingham Forest – 3
Southampton – 1

Forest left it late to get to grips with already relegated Southampton, who were good value for their lead for the majority of the game.  Which says as much for Forest’s relaxed demeanor as it did for the endeavour of the visitors (check out the match-time tweets of @nottm_forest for an insight into this!).

The Reds were lead out by Ian Breckin, making his last appearance for us after Davies revealed he was not going to renew his contract.  The right decision undoubtedly, but that doesn’t change what a consummate pro Brecks has been for us through good times and bad – so I was a bit sad, but also very proud to see him get such a great send off from the Forest fans.

Southampton could’ve been in front after only a minute or so, Lallana crossed well to Euell who managed to hit the post.  Forest’s only real chance before conceding was a McGugan freekick which looked like a cheeky shot that Davies in the goal wasn’t expecting, forcing him to flap the ball over for a Reds corner.  Which came to nothing!

It was Lallana who was creator for Southampton’s goal, playing a through ball to Bradley Wright-Phillips who showed good composure to slot it to the side of the onrushing Paul Smith, giving it enough power to cross the line before the backtracking defenders could prevent the goal.  Understandably Forest fans took the goal in good humour.

Earnie was looking lively for us – he had a chance deflected wide for a corner, hit another just wide, and then did really well to give some power to a floated cross from McGugan – unfortunately Kelvin Davies was equal to it and made the save at his near post quite comfortably.  Of course, in picking out chances like this it makes the game sound quite exciting – it was mostly both sides giving possession away to one another in midfield.

However, Chris Gunter pulled out a real moment of magic – picking up the ball down the right he had Davies rush out to close him down, he did really well to dig out the ball right across the now open goal – unfortunately none of his teammates were gambling to convert what would have been an easy goal thanks to the fullback’s endeavour.

That brought about half time which saw Blackstock – who’d been limping (and had a good reception from the Southampton fans) withdrawn for Joe Garner.  Lewis McGugan started to look livelier, but was in very much ‘take it round every player on the pitch before shooting’ mode.  The Saints looked comfortable without being too threatening for the most part.

However, the Reds were starting to find inroads – a chipped ball by Moussi was almost perfectly met by Earnie on the volley, but it just ended up over the goal and into the Trent End.  Moussi was withdrawn for Anderson, with Cohen moving centrally and the winger was immediately involved by hitting a looping shot that Davies had to get back to palm over.

He went one better a minute later, finding his fellow substitute Joe Garner with a delicious pass that Garner was able to divert goalwards with a lobbed shot into the Trent End goal to give Forest an equaliser they were starting to look more deserving of.  It’s a slightly odd experience to celebrate a goal only to look at the away end and see them celebrating ironically too!

With just three minutes on the club Forest scored from a corner!  Of course, it would’ve been a fairytale for Brecks to get it, but Cohen’s excellent delivery was powerfully headed into the net by Luke Chambers to give Forest the lead.  There was still work for our defence though, Smith doing well to save a late effort by McGoldrick.

The game was sealed with the last kick of the game – Earnshaw tried to tee up Arron Davies (a substitute for McCleary) for a goal, but his shot was blocked leaving Earnie free to prod the ball home for his 17th goal of an injury-ravaged season.  And nobody in the ground looked happier than he did celebrating that goal – good on you Earnie!

The threats of pitch invasions never happened – although a group of Southampton fans led surreally by Spongebob Squarepants looked to be attempting to get onto the pitch.  Eventually the majority of away fans dispersed from the ground after heartily applauding their own team – and receiving applause from well-wishing Forest fans.

That left us with our own farewells for the season – Breckin came to say farewell, which was a nice touch, before Billy Davies really did only say a few words, and then the squad and staff did a lap of, well, not really honour – more a lap of thanks I suppose.  It was nice, regardless.  Whilst it’s hardly been a classic season, staying up was our objective and we’ve done it – and to only be a point behind them is impressive.

Commiserations to Charlton, Southampton and Norwich City who find themselves facing the prospect of League One and all that brings, congratulations to Wolverhampton Wanderers who were joined in automatic promotion by their fellow west midlanders Birmingham City, leaving Sheffield United, Reading, Burnley and Preston to contest the playoffs.

So those are the teams that leave us – next season we will be welcoming Leicester City and Peterborough to the City Ground, and one from MK Dons, Leeds, Millwall and Scunthorpe.  As for coming down to us, it’s very much unconfirmed but West Bromwich Albion look a certainty – whilst Middlesbrough and Newcastle United look likely.

It all makes for an interesting season!  With Forest opting to freeze their season ticket prices, one I’m looking forward to without reservation.  We’ve seen in the past that Forest can’t be relied upon for common sense on such decisions – so it’s great that the board have come to a sensible decision and released prices earlier than usual too!

Finally, big congratulations to Chris Cohen for his player of the year award – well deserved, and to Nathan Tyson for goal of the year.  I’ll still be around on the internet and updating throughout – but everyone have a great summer and we shall resume usual coverage levels when 2009-2010 kicks off!

YOU REDS!

Blackpool – 1
Nottingham Forest – 1

And so it goes to the last day, maybe.  Because Norwich City have yet to play their penultimate game, they face Reading on Monday night infront of Sky cameras.  Basically, whatever the do in this game is what we must do in our remaining game against Southampton in order to guarantee safety.  Of course, the Canaries will have to play their final game too.

We drew, Barnsley drew, Plymouth drew, Southampton drew – consigning them to a bottom three finish, a relegation and a start in League One on minus ten points.  That means they come to the City Ground next Sunday very much in ‘playing for pride’ mode.  The fact that Derby managed to scrape a win against Charlton means any of you still harbouring hopes we’d sneak above them will have to wait ’til next season too.

So, on a pitch that did a more convincing job as an extension of Blackpool’s beach, Forest lined up with Smith, Chambers, Breckin, Morgan, Lynch, Perch, Gunter, Cohen, Osbourne, Blackstock and Garner.  On the bench were McCleary, McGugan, Earnshaw, Thornhill and Redmond.

It was the visitors who started strongest, a cross cleared unconvincingly and falling to Vaughan, who was charged down and blocked by Gunter before getting a shot away.  Another attempt from Crainey required an intervention from Wes Morgan and it was looking set to be a long game for Forest to try to work their way into.

And then the tides turned quite rapidly, Forest profiting from their first foray forward – Garner found Lynch, Lynch whipped in a cross, Dexter did well to get infront of his defender to meet the ball with an outstretched foot and divert it into the roof of the net to give the Reds the lead after less than ten minutes.  We must pull out the stops to sign Blackstock next season.

Forest, tails up, continued to attack.  Garner did well to beat former Stags defender Alex Baptiste putting Osbourne through – however his shot ended up wide, looking likely to have deflected off target on the shocking surface of the pitch.

Former Reds loanee Brett Ormerod equalised for the home side, he was found by Vaughan on the edge of the area, turning and shooting inside the post to level the match.  The remainder of the half didn’t produce a great deal of champagne football from either side, and it seemed that both sides were playing out ’til half time keen to avoid errors.

After half time McCleary replaced Breckin, prompting a reshuffle moving Chambers across into the centre of defence, and Gunter to right back.  Forest immediately went on the attack, culminating with a dangerous cross from Osbourne finding Blackstock seeking to add to his tally, but his effort was put out for a corner.

Cohen had a snapshot after being setup by Blackstock, Rachubka was equal to gethering it though, however, it looked like things might improve when Garner appeared to get through on goal – only to be pulled back by Evatt, this saw Evatt red carded, and the resulting freekick by Cohen bringing a decent save by Rachubka, giving the Reds a corner.

The corner was taken quickly, and Chambers almost did everything right – but his header was just over.  Billy immediately bolstered our attack by withdrawing Osbourne for Earnshaw to try to capitalise on our superior numbers, with Blackpool withdrawing into a very defensive position.  Forest applied pressure but couldn’t get a clear opportunity to score.

Blackpool weren’t adverse to attacking themselves either, a freekick conceded by Garner was hit goalward by Crainey – producing a great save by Smith.  Forest resumed their pressure, Perch met a cross but couldn’t beat Rachubka with a header, Earnie turned and struck a ball from McCleary but could only hit the side netting.

Earnie and Perch again were at the centre of a chance, colliding and the resulting header ending up off target.  The final chance fell to late substitute McGugan, who tricked his way towards goal before unleashing a damp squib of a shot straight at the Blackpool ‘keeper.  That was pretty much the last action of the game.

So Forest miss out the chance to secure safety this weekend, with other relegation rivals not picking up wins a win today would’ve been enough.  Should Reading do us a huge favour and beat Norwich on Monday evening, then we will be safe.  Should Norwich get a draw or a win then we will need to match that result against Southampton on Sunday.  Of course, there are then intricacies involving Barnsley and Plymouth – but it hurts my brain trying to think of it all!

So it could be a crucial point, or it could be a prelude to what promises to be a very tense weekend.  Either way, if we win against Southampton we will stay up.  So our fate is very much in our own hands.

Nottingham Forest – 1
Coventry City – 0

Most definitely a game of two halves, albeit one which I think Forest earned their three points.  A crossbar struck in the first half, a goal in the second half, a decent save by their ‘keeper too.  I don’t think Paul Smith had much at all of note to be doing at our end of the pitch.  With Southampton losing and Barnsley drawing, this was a cracking three points.

Forest lined up with Smith in goal, Chambers and Wes at centreback, Perch at left back and Gunter at right back.  Cohen, Osbourne, McGugan and Anderson should’ve made up midfield, but Garner appeared to be playing out on the left wing, leaving Blackstock somewhat a lone striker in the first half.

The game started with Coventry pressing us, but not really creating a great deal – indeed, the first twenty minutes were eminently forgettable – this landmark was greeted by the extreme excitement of Clinton Morrison shotting pretty much straight at Paul Smith who gathered without any drama.

Forest’s first decent chance followed, a corner whipped in by Lewis McGugan was well met by the head of Luke Chambers, only to return back into play courtesy of the crossbar.  It fell for Osbourne, albeit not exactly kindly, and the midfielder was only able to direct the ball out for a goal kick to Coventry.

A freekick from the edge of the box had us worrying over the possibility of an Eastwood strike, fortunately Fox opted to spanner it into the Trent End much to our relief and amusement, the visitors then spurned their best chance of the game – good work by Morrison found Eastwood and a teammate unattended at the back post, but the former Southend man put it wide.

The half ended with another Fox freekick into the wall this time, and really left us feeling rather frustrated.  The popular verdict was that it had been ‘crap’ and that there hadn’t really been the sense of urgency our league situation demands.  From listening to Perchy’s interview post-match it would seem Billy’s half time team talk was along the same lines!

The second half saw Anderson – apparently suffering with an ankle injury – replaced with McCleary.  Garath was immediately involved down the right hand side taking on his man, and indeed, it wasn’t long before we’d scored – McGugan sent a ball across from the right to Blackstock, who held the ball superbly before releasing it to the onrushing Perch who slotted the ball calmly into the bottom corner of the net.

This seemed to settle Forest, and whilst the second half wasn’t exactly a rip-roaring encounter, it seemed more comfortable.  The only other chance of note crafted by either side was created and taken by Cohen, who won the ball in the middle and unleashed a shot which looked like it took a deflection before requiring an impressive save by Westwood.

The only other chance of note was a goalmouth scramble from a Cohen corner – Garner backheeled to Osbourne whose shot struck Blackstock to go wide for a goalkick.  Then came ‘the scary substitution’ – McGugan off, Perch into Midfield, Gunter to left back, Chambers to right back, Breckin on as centre back.

Too many chances, Billy – it scared us!  Fortunately Coventry really weren’t all that interested in contesting this game properly so it didn’t backfire, but with a good 5-10 minutes left we were blatantly attempting to keep the ball in the corners, bringing everyone back.  I know we need the win at all costs, but it’s not good for my nerves!

With Barnsley picking up only a point, and Southampton losing, things bode well today elsewhere for us too.  Tomorrow is the ‘old farm’ derby between Ipswich and Norwich, where we will of course be rooting for the blues to put a dent in their rivals’ survival hopes.  We could also use today’s opponents Coventry doing us a favour by beating Barnsley on Tuesday.

Sheffield United – 0
Nottingham Forest – 0

We’re back in the bottom three, thanks to Norwich beating Watford – however, hands up who thought we’d pick up four points against Bristol City and Sheffield United over Easter?  I didn’t.  So perversely I’m actually pretty happy with things – which still leaves us with plenty to do over our remaining three games, but certainly not down and out despite the drop to 22nd.

Davies had big changes enforced on him, Calamity Turner broke his toe at the weekend so was replaced by Paul Smith, Lynch was missing for reasons unreported – and was replaced by Wilson, his place in the middle taken by Breckin.  Chambers came in at right back, pushing Gunter forward to the right wing.  Osbourne and Perch were in the middle, with Cohen on the left.  Blackstock and Garner were up front, with Earnshaw out with an injured knee.

Initial prognosis not good – lots of changes are a source of worry, and the side looked like it had a defensive shape to it.  And it wasn’t to get much better – after just fifteen minutes there was a confrontation between Wilson and Halford, which left the Blades man writhing on the floor in supposed agony, earning the Forest defender a red card.  The incident apparently wasn’t caught on camera – it’s likely to be the last we see of Wilson this season as I can’t imagine Forest will appeal the red card.

Forest had the flexibility to shuffle the deck to line up in a four-four-one formation with Gunter stepping back into defence, and Garner playing on the right wing with Dexter up front on his own.  Understandably Forest’s chances were pretty limited – one effort of note coming from Gunter whose medium range shot wasn’t difficult for Kenny to deal with.

The Reds did a good job at frustrating the hosts, limiting their opportunities whilst not creating masses going forward – although a rather splendid Cohen cross did give us a corner.  Paul Smith – restored to goal following Turner’s injury – pulled a point blank save out the bag near the end of the half, although Forest did have time to break, with Blackstock bringing a routine save from Kenny and then Cohen received a booking for taking too long over a corner from a very home-biased referee.

The second half began with Forest putting in a series of challenges, and another cheap booking for Wes Morgan from the increasingly irritating referee.  Davies shuffled the deck quite early, withdrawing Blackstock for Anderson.  Smith was on hand to deal well with a ball into the box (surely not?!) before Henderson was able to get the ball towards goal.

On a rare foray forward Gunter did well to get into the box, the ball eventually falling quite kindly for Garner who unfortunately was only able to shoot over.  This was to be his last action as he was withdrawn for McCleary, and shortly after wasting further time by withdrawing Cohen for McGugan – barely concealing the time it took for them to make the change.

Halford had an effort from range, straight at Smith.  Sheffield United’s many corners were also well dealt with by the Forest ‘keeper.  With five minutes of stoppage time it was always going to be tense, with Forest shrinking back to absorb pressure.  Osbourne was able to deflect a Hendrie effort over, Lewis did well to win a freekick at the other end but then wasted the freekick itself, shooting over.

Probably the Blades’ best chance fell to Beattie at the death – but from the edge of the area the striker shot over.  Before the end there was more work for Smith to do in making a save in the sixth minute of stoppage time – but Forest held firm for the point leading to celebrations from fans and Billy Davies alike.

Dropping back into the bottom three is never a good thing, but this is a great point – well done Reds.  I am disappointed with Wilson, whilst I suspect his ‘crime’ was reacted to in theatrical style by Halford, he shouldn’t have even feigned to headbutt an opponent.  Norwich’s 2-0 victory over Watford is a bit of a fly in the ointment, and Southampton’s win over Palace keeps some pressure from beneath also.

However, hopefully we are in confident shape to move forward – Billy Davies’ decision to not risk any injury doubts is looking a very wise move having snagged a point that, if we are being honest, the pessimists amongst us weren’t expecting even without the handicap of playing more than 75 minutes with only ten men.  This could be an important point one, so well done lads, and well done Billy.

Not amongst the goals, but Cohen's grafting today kept Forest going..

Nottingham Forest – 3
Bristol City – 2

I had been bemoaning my general malaise with all things Forest, but there’s nothing quite like a last minute winner to restore a bit of faith and make you remember what it’s all about, whilst today’s game was in no way a classic, the result has taken us out of the drop zone at the expense of Norwich, and hopefully given the lads a bit of confidence that on their day they can compete with teams in this league.

The headlines or reports probably won’t do this strange game justice.  It was mostly rubbish, in honesty.  Despite this, Forest fashioned more than enough chances to snag the three points, but thanks to wasteful finishing and some charitable ‘goalkeeping’ it took a fairly epic injury time comeback scenario to snag the points we so desperately needed – and I think deserved, despite there being plenty in this game to not be exactly thrilled about.

Forest lined up with Turner in goal, Gunter, Morgan Wilson and Lynch in defence, Anderson, Moussi, Perch and Cohen across midfield, and Blackstock and Earnshaw up front.  And we attacked from the off, notching a shot on target inside the first minute – albeit a fairly tame one from the edge of the box by Cohen which was fairly routine for Basso to gather comfortably.

We could and should have had the lead a minute or two later – a freekick was awarded deep on the left hand side – Cohen swung the ball in to an unmarked Blackstock who contrived to head wide with the whole goal gaping at him.  City looked dangerous on the break, McIndoe was teed up with a good chance by Skuse but wasn’t able to hit the target, Iain Turner nonchalantly able to let the ball go for a goal kick.

He was less nonchalant for the first City goal – challenging unnecessarily with Maynard (although just because the defence should’ve dealt with it doesn’t necessarily mean they would have, in Turner’s defence) and losing the ball which fell to Sproule to scramble over the line for the easiest goal he’ll probably ever score.  Turner had treatment for injury, but I fear all that was really damaged was his pride.

Forest did have a period of pressure but never seemed prepared to either take a shot or play the final through-ball or cross, so after a frustrating period of this it was City who fashioned the next chance – McCombe attempted what looked like a goalbound header, with Turner somewhat stranded on his near post he did extremely well to dive across and make the save, making amends somewhat for the more questionable goalkeeping for the goal.

The equaliser came for Earnshaw just after half an hour, Blackstock did well to chest down and slot a throughball to Earnie, who used strength belying his stature to hold off McCombe before slotting the ball under Basso who got a touch but not enough to prevent it going in.  There was no flip to celebrate, and Earnie was straight to the bench and looked to be taping himself up – so I imagine he picked up a knock in the exchange with McCombe.

We nearly snagged the lead straight after too, good work by Gunter saw him take on a couple of Bristol City defenders before unleashing a powerful curling shot across the goal – but unfortunately it wasn’t curling enough and ended up just wide.  That was the last of the significant action of the half, most of the game was scrappy with poor passing from both teams – eventually the referee called the half to a close with the scores level.

Forest again looked sure to score moments into the first half, Cohen whipped a dangerous freekick into the near post which evaded Basso, but Lynch couldn’t quite get a decisive touch on it so it ended up wide.  Anderson came close with an effort from range which was wide and rising too, and things were looking quite positive for Forest – although still vulnerable to breaks from the visiting side.

Turner came racing out of his box to challenge for a ball Lynch was also going for – I’m not sure without seeing a replay whether to call him ‘Calamity’ would be fair or not, but the ball broke for Sproule who really should’ve made sure he converted, but his placed shot didn’t have enough pace on it to prevent Kelvin from getting back and clearing off the line with Turner in no-man’s land.

McCleary was introduced for the ineffective Moussi, and he was immediately involved in attacking play – first bursting forward and straight into a City defender, and shortly after shooting from an acute angle when a cross looked the better option.  City had a spell attacking and Turner’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ performance saw the loan man make a good save with his leg at his near post from Gavin Williams.

Unfortunately, Mr Hyde was hot on his heels – because after this Turner came racing off his line for no apparent reason, leaving Dele Adebola (who, on this performance, I wish we had managed to sign) an empty goal to head into after being picked out by McAllister.  A frustrating afternoon at this point, as we’d created chances we’d not taken, and let in two stupid goals – naturally we were feeling a bit grumpy!

Garner came on for Earnie before the goal, and McGugan came on for Perch just after – and those two combined to get the equaliser.  Play had stopped for Basso to timewaste get treatment for cramp, and Gunter threw the ball back to McAllister, after a pause he then charged McAllister down – winning back possession.  McAllister took exception to this hauled Gunter to the deck.  Eventually ending up with a red card (he’d already been booked).

The freekick was taken by McGugan, and at the near post it met the head of fellow substitute Joe Garner and from there travelled decisively into the net to put Forest back on level terms.  With an extra man advantage, Forest were starting to play a bit more and McCleary did well to find Blackstock whose forward run was blocked off by Orr to give Forest a corner.  Another good effort from Garner at a stretch was well placed for Basso to gather.

Forest finally took the lead in the last minute – the game running well over normal time due to a late kick off and, ironically, no small degree of time wasting by the visitors.  Blackstock initially nodded the ball forward, the clearance was returned to him and he unleashed an absolute thunderbolt into the Trent End goal to make the City Ground erupt, and to give us the lead for the first time in the game.  He was then booked for celebrating!

Stoppage time was tense, Forest played probably their best passing football of the game in this period but a couple of times opted to take it to the corners rather than go for a final goal – which didn’t exactly work amazingly and did give City in roads to attack us again.  The final whistle was greeted with cheers, which magnified when news of Norwich’s defeat was later relayed to the crowd.

A well earned and I think deserved victory – certainly neither side produced consistently good football, but I do think Forest created more chances (admittedly doing very badly with many of them!!).  And my god did we need three points.  Faith is somewhat restored, operation ‘get points in home games’ is going well, a point or more at Bramall Lane on Monday would be a nice Brucey bonus.

Well done to Billy and the boys – a great fightback.  Man of the match goes to Cohen for me, tirelessly worked throughout the game – whilst not directly involved in the goals, he was – not unusually – our ‘Mr Consistent’.

Barnsley – 1
Nottingham Forest – 1

In many ways a good result, but relegation rivals Plymouth picking up a win and obviously not making up any ground over Barnsley really haven’t improved our lot.  With fewer games remaining, it begins to look like two of the three from ourselves, Norwich and financially troubled Southampton will make up the numbers with Charlton in the drop to League One.

Of course, five remaining games means there is time to drag the likes of Barnsley and Plymouth (and on the very outside even Blackpool and Derby) back into the fight.  It is still uncomfortably and frustratingly close – because a win today would’ve done us the world of good!  Just ask any Plymouth fans you may know!

Anyway, Billy Davies upset the Barnsley manager by suggesting Forest need a nasty streak – and then name-checking Chris Morgan, the thug (well known to us) who hospitalised Iain Hume with a cynical and deliberate-looking elbow to the head.  Davey may have a reason for being sensitive, he lost his job at Preston when Davies took over.  Perhaps Billy should’ve thought about what he said a bit more, but Davey has over-reacted.

The game appears to be broadly reported as positive – Forest were only able to field five of their loanees, so Anderson and McSheffrey had to make way to accommodate Turner and new signing Blackstock, switching our formation to a four-four-two which should hopefully have meant Earnie was left feeling less isolated up front!

Forest were positive, but Barnsley were defending stoutly.  Osbourne looked to have set up Earnie for a chance but for the intervention of  Darren Moore.  Tyson worked industriously down the left and fired in a cross, with nobody on the other end.  So, as we’ve seen a fair bit recently, pressure nullified by good defending – and Barnsley did look capable of hiting on the break.

The best chance of the half for the Reds involved some great interplay, Osbourne found Blackstock who crossed to Tyson, he blasted past Hassell at right back and crossed to Earnshaw who’s flicked effort was only just over.  Another Tyson cross was headed goalward by Blackstock, although the referee already adjudged him to have pushed the defender.

Barnsley finished the half stronger, though – Turner flapped at a corner under pressure (presumably not drawing the same groans his counterpart would’ve done in similar circumstances!), although a quick counter from Forest saw Cohen surge forward and test Muller who saved at the second attempt.

Just at the death Campbell-Ryce created a chance for Macken who struck over under pressure from Cohen.  At the whistle the referee was immediately petitioned by both sets of players for poor decisions.

So the teams returned to the field for the second half, with Forest fans in reasonably positive mood – only to see us concede in less than a minute.  A Wes clearance fell to Campbell-Ryce whose looping header was flighted perfectly to beat Turner and find the top corner of the net.  A real sucker-punch and a characteristic lapse in the extremeties of a half.

Forest almost replied immediately, Cohen did well to beat numerous Barnsley players before finding Blackstock who held the ball up well for Earnie who blasted it against the crossbar, unfortunately he was only able to put the rebound over though.  And then it nearly all went completely pear-shaped, with a bit more clown defending.

Gunter this time gave the ball away, which set Andranik free in the box to fall over Wes Morgan’s oustretched leg.  Campbell-Ryce stepped up to take the spotkick, but Turner was equal to it, diving low to his left to save the shot.  There’s something about loan keepers and penalties this season, isn’t there?

Forest started looking more positive, a speculative punt forward let Earnie in at the back – but his final effort was poor and over, a Cohen delivery almost reached Blackstock but for some stout defending.  Fortuantely the equaliser was to come – Cohen found Osbourne who made the run down the right hand side, playing a low ball to the near post where Earnshaw was on hand to convert.

The home side were not down and out though, Forest still look vulnerable from set pieces and were somewhat lucky and again thankful for the goalkeeping skills of Turner when De Silva’s slightly scuffed effort looked goalbound but was tipped over.  Another Wes error let in Mifsud who got clear but was prevented from scoring by Turner who smothered the ball at the edge of the area.

Forest had a couple more efforts, one from a McCleary cross  which either Earnie or Blackstock could’ve and perhaps should’ve done better with, the second was a solo effort by Nathan Tyson, who did well to fashion a shooting chance from the edge of the box but it was straight at Heinz – and was followed by the number nine going down injured to be replaced by Luke Chambers.

The last chance fell to the home side, Colace had a decent effort which one again Turner was able to thwart.  In isolation a good point and probably a fair result – in the context of current league standings it’s somewhat less than we could have done with, although everything is not yet lost.

Big Wes: Big performance.

Nottingham Forest – 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers – 1

Wolves fans will merrily forget the eighty odd minutes of tension they endured before their team scored the only goal of the game giving license for the nigh on six thousand travelling West Midlanders to actually find their voice.  That it was a bit fortunate won’t matter a jot as they open up a lead at the top of the Championship on the way to what looks like an inevitable promotion.  For Forest it was a disappointing suckerpunch when a lapse of concentration let Kightly, unmarked in the box, slot the ball into the net to get the only goal of the game.

Davies made five changes to the side that embarrassed us all at Burnley – Wilson, Anderson and Lynch available after injury, McGugan given the chance to prove he’s not a fatty to the manager, and Iain Turner replacing Paul Smith in goal.  The first half was scrappy, lots of unforced errors by both sides – Wolves looked dangerous on the break, but never quite broke through – Forest looked eager but short on imagination.  Iain Turner did have the opportunity to claim a cross, and also shank a clearance.

After half an hour or so it started to open up more, a Turner clearance found Anderson in a clearly offside position, the loan winger brought the ball down with a lovely bit of control, before deftly lobbing the ball over Hennessey.  A wee bit foolish, as it was not only abundantly obvious he was offside, the whistle had gone some time earlier though, and as such Anderson picked up an inevitable and foolish booking.  Forest did start to look more composed from this moment.

Some good work by McGugan gained us possession, before finding McSheffrey who then played the ball on to Anderson who was cutting in from the left hand channel.  He had what was probably technically our only shot on target – it was a cross-cum-shot that Hennessey not only saved, but held too – with Earnshaw lurking in the six yard box presumably praying like the rest of us for a spill to happen.  Shortly after Wolves had their only shot on target of the first half, which was from distance but hit with pace, Turner made the save and held the ball after some initial flappery.

Right after half time I thought we’d got a penalty when Berra felled Cohen who had latched on to a long ball by Wes Morgan – alas it was just outside the area, so it was a freekick and just a yellow card for the Wolves defender.  McGugan took the freekick which looked better positioned for a left footer to me, and promptly spannered it into the wall, hitting a second shot from the rebound which ricocheted out for a corner thanks to Earnie marshalling the ball out of play.

The impressive-yet-quiet Wolves following were tense as Forest continued to take the game to them, but there wasn’t much end product from the Reds in terms of either final passes or chances on goal – McSheffrey had a snap-shot which went over, and shortly after was withdrawn along with the tiring Anderson for McCleary and Tyson to give the Reds more pace upfront.  Unfortunately rather than giving Forest a new dimension to break the deadlock, the inevitable opposite happened.

Ebanks-Blake was left by Wes after he’d forced him wide, allowing him to cross in to Vokes who had the simplest of passes to lay off to the completely unmarked Kightly in the Forest box, who was able to comfortably slot the ball into the far corner across Turner to finally wake up the large following of Wolves fans, and whilst Forest continued to fight and try, Wolves were started to look more threatening again as Forest were still lacking ideas, and starting to lack energy.

Garner came on for the largely ineffective McGugan, Wes – who I would name as man of the match despite his bad judgement in the build up to the goal – ended up in an attacking role as the Reds tried desperately to try to dig a goal out of something.  Nothing really broke for us though, and Turner needed to be on hand to keep an Ebanks-Blake shot out, as did Lynch who cleared an effort off the line – before the end Keogh almost embarrassed the debutant by lobbing him from over 40 yards, fortunately he was off target because the keeper was beaten.

A bad result, not great results elsewhere either, but I feared a lot worse than this today – to have come home feeling hard done to in not getting a draw is – perversely – quite a good feeling.  We certainly didn’t deserve a win today given the lack of chances created – but the same would be said for Wolves, our defence just didn’t concentrate for the whole game, and theirs did – and they took their chance well.  The performance from the lads does give me some heart, though, which is good because I was proper grumpy before this afternoon!

And so, after a reported week of negotiations with Forest, Marlon Harewood will be strutting his stuff at the City Ground on Saturday.  In a Wolves shirt.  Whilst I’m not convinced loaning all and sundry is the way forward given that you can only play with five loan players, I would’ve been happy to see Marlon back – many fans had taken this to a new level of ’second coming’ type proportions borne of desperation at our seemingly worsening plight.  The reason that I haven’t really mentioned the ballad of Marlon otherwise in passing was because I was utterly convinced it wouldn’t happen.

Sure enough, it hasn’t – earlier indications were that Martin O’Neill put the kibosh on it, but given that he has since gone on to join another Championship team would suggest that perhaps that wonderful acquisition panel of ours has once again flexed its very effective muscles.  They should be renamed to the fuck-it-up panel, because that’s all they ever seem to do after Davies has identified the player he wants, as well as presumably getting them to want to come here – no mean feat given the state of the place.  

So when Marlon makes his inevitable debut will he score against our own debutant in goal?  Probably, we will have the same incompetent defence in front of him – perhaps Forest fans will find Turner an intolerable goalkeeper as well?  One thing is for sure, after another week of embarrassment off the pitch sparked off by humiliation on it, there will be a frosty-at-best atmosphere at the City Ground, drowned out by more than 5,000 Wolves fans who have sold their allocation to roar their team on in their title challenge.  

Generally speaking (probably not including Mark Arthur and David Pleat, who I don’t understand the point of) I have always been supportive of the regime at Forest, but I am starting to question it now, because clearly they are not providing Billy Davies with the basics he needs to keep Forest in the Championship, let alone challenge at the right end of it in the future – and that’s a worry, Davies was reportedly absolutely fuming about the Harewood saga, presumably he was when we arsed up signing his targets in January too, how long before he loses patience altogether?  He’s an ambitious man, and clearly Forest are not matching those ambitions.

It all smacks of the incompetence article a number of you have pointed me to via comments and emails, we are basically run by a bunch of clowns – we are an embarrassment, presumably other clubs are rapidly starting to see us in a less-than-serious light in off-the-field matters, and more importantly and dear to our own hearts as fans we are becoming an absolute laughing stock for the way we’re being run – and there’s only so much of that road to ruin that most fans will be prepared to put up with before abstaining from further frustration.  Watch us go an win tomorrow, now.

Burnley -5
Nottingham Forest – 0

I’m somewhat cut off from technology in the wilds of Wiltshire where even a signal for text messaging has proven rather unreliable. Although I have found a spot in the bar with a smidgen of a GPRS signal.

After checking in with the TV I think a trip to the bar is very much in order. There was no coverage of league tables on the Premier League-centric programme, although eyeballing other results suggest it might not be a total disaster.

Of course, then we need to remember that Wolves are up next – pretty formidible opponents by our standards. That Billy Davies would push us into an era of consistency and professionalism is still a philosophy undergoing some major teething trouble.

I will follow up this post tomorrow when I have access to my usual myriad of media accoutrements, but naturally would welcome your comments as ever, particularly if you (inevitably) have access to more information than I do currently.

As for me, I’m off to find that square foot of mobile coverage to try to publish this short missive, that it is in the bar is entirely coincidence, but a welcome one nonetheless!