A good victory, marred once again by poor discipline from the Reds players, both in terms of keeping a clean sheet and staying out of the referee’s notebook.
Forest made one change following the international break, bringing in Adlene Guedioura for Lewis McGugan. The game started off a little scrappy, or at least it wasn’t the free-flowing football we had hoped for from two of the more footballing Championship teams. Nonetheless, by half-time Cardiff had not had any meaningful efforts on goal, and Forest had scored twice through a brilliant Andy Reid free-kick and a header by Dani Ayala following more good work from the little Irishman and a good first-time cross from Greg Halford.
Half-time saw Radi Majewski introduced in place of Simon Cox, for the striker’s protection after he almost got himself sent off in stoppage time and had to be ushered off the pitch by Forest’s coaching staff. I didn’t see what happened but he lost his head and we learned from the Derby match that you must not try to bring yourself to the ref’s attention for the wrong reasons.
The Polish wizard made an immediate impact, with a superb reverse pass to complete the one-two with Billy Sharp, who was delighted to notch his first Reds goal.
Predictably, Cardiff came at us as they had nothing to lose, and although we didn’t think we would keep a clean sheet, it was another very soft goal to concede. In the meantime, Adlene Guedioura proved the adage about not making yourself a target to the ref, earning another red card; the first was debated by many fans, but from where we were sitting it was a clear, Suarez-esque, theatrical dive.
Then it was down to Norn Iron’s finest, Lee O’Camp to hold the fort, with three great saves and a commanding performance to keep the opponents at bay. Along with Chris Cohen, Dani Ayala and Greg Halford, he epitomised the spirit and hard work that saw Forest take three very good points today.
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