Colin Calderwood was caught speeding on his way home from the match last night. As the policeman approached his car, the bronzen one was heard to exclaim, “I’m sorry officer, I just wanted three points!”
Forest (4-4-2): Camp; Chambers, Morgan, WIlson (c), Bennett (Lynch 45); Anderson, Fletcher, Cohen, McCleary (Martin 74); Cole (McGugan 66), Tyson. Subs not used: Davies, Thornhill.
Ipswich (4-4-1-1): R Wright; Volz, Naylor, McAuley, D Wright; Walters, MIller, Shumulikoski (Stead 77), Quinn (Haynes 90); Garvan; Counago (Lisbie 71). Subs not used: Supple, Bruce.
I usually try to play Devil’s Advocate when things are not going well. Hell, I even tried to give David Platt the benefit of the doubt (after the humiliation of Big Ron, anything seemed worth a go – how wrong was I?). Colin Calderwood is not the devil incarnate that many fans seem to portray him as, but despite a reasonable first-half showing, I left this match grateful for a point, and unsure as to how we are going to win a match in the foreseeable future (and it hurts me to write that).
Rahoul and I have commented recently about how Forest always look more likely to win when they get an early goal, and it was great to see that we scored one – except Garath McCleary was offside when he diverted it in. Bummer. Despite Walters’ long-range effort that spanked the home crossbar, Forest still looked more likely to score, although there was a paucity of real chances at both ends. In the end the deadlock was broken when a corner came out to McCleary on the far corner of the box, who looked up, saw the gap and rifled low into the net at the near post. A well-taken goal, and young Garath looked delighted, racing over to the dugout in what was presumably a show of support for his beleaguered boss.
There were two main talking points before the half was over: Jules was battered by his own keeper as Camp came out to take a cross, and eventually he was subbed just before half-time looking in some discomfort; secondly, Tys had a header ruled out for offside – from the far end, it looked as though he had run from behind his defender, but the flag did go up very early.
The second half was immediately disrupted as, from the kick-off, sub Joel Lynch banged his head and fell heavily, requiring a few minutes of treatment. I don’t know if this took the momentum away from Forest, but Ipswich were now in the ascendant, and the Reds conceded when Paul Anderson’s poor challenge on Alan Quinn conceded a penalty. No complaints from where I was sitting. Despite Camp getting a hand to it, Tommy Miller’s penalty found the bottom corner.
As has been reported before, the concession of a cheap goal early in the second half saw the confidence drain away (although play had never been less than a bit nervy), and if any team were going to win, it was Ipswich. Although there were not that many clear cut chances, it was all too easy for them to break through our midfield and defence. As the half wore on, Andy Andrew Cole was subbed for Lewis, prompting a 4-1-4-1 formation with Fletcher anchoring, which only showed up our lack of decent centre-forwards; Tys and Cole didn’t win a single thing in the air all match against their large centre-halves, and while Cole was not anonymous, his most telling contribution was an awful challenge for which he was deservedly booked – he certainly never got near the Ipswich goal. The final substitution was a bit mystifying, with McCleary removed in favour of Martin – Garath had gone off the boil a bit after a decent first half, but we all knew Anderson would struggle to last 90 minutes, and he pulled up towards the end. Was this CC’s reaction to the barracking he apparently received on Saturday?
I am struggling to pick a man of the match – on the first half, it would have been McCleary, but there was classic relegation form in the second, with everyone’s heads down and no-one looking like they wanted the ball. The new keeper did OK, one moment in the first half when he came for a cross and quickly bowled it out was particularly appreciated by the fans. Wes got in some brilliant last-ditch blocks, but aside from one sublime chipped pass towards the end, he continues to let himself down by pretending that he is any good on the ball. Chambers did OK in the first half and looks more comfortable in a 4-4-2 (Anderson is very quick and energetic and helped him out a lot), but was poor in the second, and it is surely too much to expect a centre-half to provide decent crosses into the opposition box.
As I have stated before, I am not a fan of swapping manager too frequently; when a new man comes in mid-season, it is usually a “sticking plaster”, where the brief is to halt the relegation form, and any medium- to long-term strategy goes out of the window – see the tenure of Joe Kinnear for details. The new man is usually gone within twelve months, with high severance payments, a significant turnover of players and ill-feeling at boardroom and dressing room level, as well as us fans who continue to bankroll all of this turmoil. However, most of the players can probably do a job at this level, although only a few look sophisticated enough to really make an impression; the worry I have is that CC and Kerslake seem to be running out of ideas. The manager admitted that the performance wasn’t great, but that the team “had hearts as big as buckets”; however, we should really be beating teams like Ipswich at home if we want to stay up, and after they equalised, that never looked likely.
Update: Jules has broken his collar bone, which presumably means that they will be attempting to extend Lynch’s loan period…
