eighteensixtyfive

Forest on the BBC: news roundup

Following a fairly successful appearance on BBC2 yesterday (doesn’t Gabby Logan look a bit like a lion?), the nation’s favourite broadcaster has offered us some tasty reaction to the Cardiff v Forest match.

Firstly, an audio interview with Lewis and Chrissy Cohen, and a few words from Billy lamenting the inability to take chances and the non-award of the penalty. A subsequent article allows Billy to continue to avoid talking about promotion and extol the virtues of a mid-table finish (yes please!).

Finally, BBC Online’s Football League man Paul Fletcher reviews the match and both teams’ promotion chances in his blog. He is certainly a better pundit than Messrs Claridge and Savage.

Tags: billy davies, Cardiff City, chris cohen, gabby logan, lewis mcgugan, nottingham forest   Posted in General

Last Gasp Lewis: Cardiff City 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Sorry it has been a while, leaves on the line or something. This isn’t a proper match report as I only watched on the TV, but I can safely say that this was a cracking match that I think made a decent advertisement for football at this level. The stoppage-time equaliser by Lewis McGugan will make the headlines, but I have been reassured that the equaliser was down to the fact that my almost-six-year-old niece made a wish and it came true!

Forest lined up with Campo in goal, ex-Cardiff man Chris Gunter alongside Wes, Casual Kelv and Chrissy Cohen at the back, the three Ms of McKenna, Mooooosssssse and Majewski in the middle, with Joe Garner and Ando on the flanks and Goldie as the lone striker. We started much the stronger, with Ando having a strong (and to my mind cast-iron) penalty shout turned down when young full-back Matthews clipped him, and Goldie firing wide after some route-one play involving a punt forward from Campo and a flick-on from Joe Garner. Ando had Matthews on toast in the first half, and he really should have put Forest ahead when another header from Garner gave him a shooting chance which he put just wide from an angle.

Cardiff are no mugs however, and they came back into the game after the first twenty minutes or so. Jay Bothroyd was having an excellent game and his flicks allowed Michael Chopra and Peter Whittingham space to try and exploit, which led to a brilliant double-save from Campo, first from Whittingham and then he was quickly up to thwart Joe Ledley. Just a few minutes later, an excellent volley by Whittingham was parried over by Campo at full-stretch. It should be said that Forest were not necessarily defending badly, but Cardiff were willing to shoot on sight. Whittingham picked up a caution for a late (but not malicious tackle) on Gunter, which prompted a minor melee, and Casual Kelv deservedly saw yellow for bringing down Bothroyd when he was attempting to maraud into the Forest box.

I would have taken 0-0 at half-time, but I would also have taken off Madge, who was struggling to get involved in the “link-man” role. Happily, he got himself going a bit more in the second period, although there was still a paucity of chances at both ends (although the play was generally very good and entertaining from both teams). The best chance was Ledley stabbing the ball towards goal, Campo got a hand on it before Madge cleared off the line, despite Wes almost getting in his way. However, just after withdrawing Madge for Big Dele Adebola, Cardiff took the lead. It was a flowing counter-attack, ending with Bothroyd sweeping the ball home from just inside the box; Chris Gunter was screaming for offside, although he was playing Bothroyd on, and I was annoyed that Chris Cohen lost his man.

Cardiff seemed galvanised by their goal and Forest just couldn’t get hold of the ball. However, there weren’t a huge amount of efforts on goal, and eventually Forest brought on G-Man McCleary and Lewis for Garner and Moose respectively (Joe must remain annoyed at not getting a chance upfront – I actually thought he had a decent match today). However, the G-Man tried his hardest, using his ability to run at defenders with the ball, and this created a decent chance which Goldie could only sidefoot gently towards goal, giving Marshall an easy save. Goldie also had a chance from an acute angle, with Marshall parrying his left-footed effort around the angle of post and bar.

As the stoppage time board was held up, and just as I was starting to give up hope (and Cardiff were looking to corner flag it), there came a goal out of almost nowhere. The ball came to the edge of the box from the left-hand side, and after a bit of pinball involving Dele, Lewis and the Cardiff rearguard, Lewis hit a thunderous left-footed volley past Marshall into the far corner, giving the Cardiff custodian no chance at all.

I jumped off the sofa in celebration and jarred my knee

There were still four minutes of stoppage time to play, and it was still end-to-end, but as the final whistle went, it was 1-1. Cardiff probably had more chances, but I thought a score draw was a fair result on the balance of play.

Gold stars to Campo for a confident performance in net, Wes and Casual Kelv who were majestic (and hasn’t Kelvin’s game come on in leaps and bounds this season? He seems to be walking tall, as opposed to the slouch of last season); the skipper who directed things from the middle of the park, and Goldie who was particularly effective when he dropped back to his more natural link-man role, but who tried his hardest up front as well.

Silver to Gunter (who was singled out for boos by the Cardiff fans), Ando (started well but faded), and Joe Garner.

Nobody in a Red shirt had a poor match today, but an honourable mention to Chrissy Cohen – have you noticed how Billy no longer seems to talk about wanting to get him back into midfield? He was up against one of Cardiff’s best players in Chris Burke, and his positional sense was tested, but he kept going, did well with a number of clearances and did his best going forward, especially in the second half when we tried to rescue the point.

This match was a real test, but on the whole I think the Reds continue to show remarkable resilience and, despite creating fewer chances today, were still good value for the result. Nice one Billy and the lads!

Tags: Cardiff City, chris cohen, david mcgoldrick, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nottingham forest, radoslaw majewski   Posted in Match Reports

Home, sweet home: news roundup

The talk from the City Ground is all about our home form.

Lewis McGugan talks about his early return from injury – and how we now have the confidence to build an unbeaten home run, to match our away record.

Chris Gunter (who makes the Football League Team of the Week, thanks Saturday’s clean sheet and his goal) agrees and wants that run to start tonight against Scunthorpe. The Iron will be without Gary Hooper and David Mirfin and it seems likely that we will be missing little Robbie Earnshaw.

Oh, and one more thing. There was some football match in Wales last night.

Tags: Cardiff City, chris gunter, david mirfin, derby county, gary hooper, lewis mcgugan, rob earnshaw, scunthorpe united   Posted in News

Victory, defeat and the transfer window

After the pleasing, if rather nerve-wracking victory on Tuesday (never did get a chance to write that match report – in summary, absolutely sublime pass by McCleary for Tyson’s goal, Arron Davies was frustrating, and Lewis did his now customary trick of disappearing for 70 minutes of the match – oh yeah, and the referee and linesman were poor again), the Billy Davies bubble burst with the new manager’s first defeat at the hands of Cardiff City.

By the sounds of it, we can have few complaints, although others report that the referee was far from convincing. I am not too worried by the defeat, Cardiff are in an amazing run of form (especially at home), but I, like many others, are concerned by the Reds’ lack of fit first-teamers.

This paved the way for the spotlight to fall on our hapless CEO, and it seems as though Mark Arthur is either a genius at mind games, or is trying to make excuses for yet another January of incoming transfer inactivity. This is all the more intriguing considering that the new manager has said that he would like some more bodies in the squad. Watch this space I suppose, and let’s hope that (unlike in previous years), we don’t have important players leaving (I am sure that everyone has heard whispers about Earnshaw and McGugan), whilst relying on the emergency loan market for any new faces…

Tags: Cardiff City, mark arthur, nottingham forest, sheffield wednesday, transfer window   Posted in General

Forest Fans v Dave Jones: Below the belt

I didn’t particularly want to write about this story, but it has acquired a life of its own.

I think most right-minded fans would agree that chants about Dave Jones were unwarranted, unedifying and only tarnish the name of the club. Jones has, understandably, had his say; you cannot blame him for being upset when his kids were in the crowd. Marthur and Nigel D have apologised to him (rightly so), and the issue has made the national press, as well as the locals.

Speaking of local press, I found a link to this story, which only goes to show how jumped-up local journos can badly blur the lines (I hate journalists stating opinions as fact):

I spent almost a decade covering Forest during the times when Brian Clough was in charge.

He would have let those chanting at Jones know exactly how he felt. Forest manager Colin Calderwood, though, simply said: “I didn’t hear anything.”

As if Colin didn’t have enough on his plate without being lambasted for concentrating on his own affairs! Another example of shoddy local journalism, and yet it has worked because they are only concerned with selling papers and getting hits on their websites – the truth is secondary, and yet local media can still feel chuffed with their “performance”.

Tags: abuse, Cardiff City, dave jones, nottingham forest   Posted in News, Opinion

Everything but the goal: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Cardiff City

Having reported the other night on how I couldn’t see how we would get a win, Saturday’s match was both a fillip and a kick in the nads teeth. It was good, because it proved to idiots like me that playing decent football can get you out of trouble, and yet it was bad because we remain rooted to the foot of the table.

In yesterday’s podcast, Rahoul and I couldn’t help but comment that Forest played well, but also that there was a nagging suspicion that if we didn’t score in the first 45, we would be in serious danger of losing. No surprises there – I suspect that everyone in the City Ground had that nagging doubt.

Despite Joe Garner’s heroics, ostensibly as a lone striker, but in reality with Lewis pushing up alongside him, the ball just wouldn’t go in. Garner hit the post after great work from McCleary, Lewis had an unsuccessful effort, and Chris Cohen had a 20-yarder saved (fairly comfortably, in all honesty). Garath McCleary, not content with being the most creative player on the park, also had a go himself, spanking it narrowly wide with his left foot, before James Perch made a great burst forward only to be denied by a slight deflection. When the whistle blew, everyone was wondering how Forest weren’t at least two or three goals to the good.

Half-time saw the unusual sight of a sub peeling off his tracksuit and warming up, and sure enough, Nathan Tyson took the place of Paul Anderson on the wing; Ando had apparently complained of tightness, so best not to risk it. Cardiff also made a substitution (their second of the game), with captain Darren Purse (whom we commented on in the podcast) being withdrawn. Tys played down the left, and generally looked like you would expect – a forward who hasn’t scored in a long time.

As usual these days, Forest were undone by a cheap goal conceded not long after the interval. Lewis made a necessary but clumsy challenge on Steve McPhail, and Ross McCormack made no mistake from twelve yards.

According to the precis in ITV’s “The Championship“, that was it – game over, and Cardiff were unlucky not to win by more. What lazy reporting: it neatly ignores the fact that although Forest were shell-shocked and poor for a good twenty minutes, they did come back into the match. McCleary had come agonisingly close; some decent work from Lewis gave him a shooting opportunity which went millimetres wide of the far post. Garner had, despite his best efforts, become peripheral and was replaced by Earnie, with Lewis dropping a bit deeper and Tys moving a bit further forward. The little man almost reaped quick rewards, with a one-on-one effort which Heaton in the Cardiff goal diverted around the far post. I think it was at this point (and despite a speculative volley from Earnie) that we realised that it wasn’t going to happen. There was still time for a rare decent cross from Tys to just elude Cohen at the back stick, thanks to an intervention from the Cardiff full-back.

A word on the crowd: we commented on the podcast that the Cardiff fans were great, and I have to confess that I did not hear the unsavoury chanting that came from the Lower Bridgford; I did hear unsavoury taunts from the A Block towards Dave Jones, but it was also clear that something had happened to prompt the abuse (I have read elsewhere that he directed a “Nescafe handshake” towards the Reds’ fans, rather than the “thumbs down” indicated on a Cardiff site). So credit to the away support for creating so much noise, less so for the nature of the noise.

It would also be remiss of me to ignore the telephone comments broadcast on Radio Nottingham when we were battling through the traffic on Wilford Lane: so many of them were “I have just listened to the match, and Calderwood has to go…”. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if I was at work and walked into another department’s team meeting and told them that they were doing X, Y and Z wrong, they would quite rightly tell me to piss off. If you didn’t go, you wouldn’t know!

To the CC-baiters: he couldn’t have done much more today, he picked a decent line-up, made the substitutions that he had to, and cannot be blamed for the profligacy in front of goal. I have said before that I don’t regard him as a saint, but he did little wrong in this match.

Winners and losers in the Forest team? Well, Garner certainly adds a welcome dimension to our play – despite not being the biggest, he is strong (held off Purse for most of the first half, prompting the Cardiff skipper to resort to foul means on several occasions), and he can hold the ball up well. However, a lot of players tend to get through their first game after injury on adrenaline, so I hope that he can sustain such a level of performance. Many (myself included) commented that the prospect of him linking with Earnie could significantly increase our chances of actually scoring once in a while. At the back, Wes had his best game in a long while, although his defensive partner “Casual Kelv” was poor again today and Luke Chambers (playing as a centre-half!) was perfectly competent and immediately looked more effective than his hapless skipper. Lewis was brilliant, but then disappeared for half-an-hour, and the decision tomove him back to a more conventional centre-mid position almost paid dividends as he got much more involved again. However, MOTM goes to the brilliant Garath McCleary, playing without fear and looking most likely to make things happen. The lad looked absolutely shattered at full-time.

As if the current position was not bad enough, the next few weeks see a horrid sequence of fixtures – we never win at Selhurst Park and are all dreading the trip to Pride Park, followed not long after by high-flying Birmingham City. However, a few weeks ago, I think we would have feared being the team against whom Derby break their duck, and now the tables are turned; in many senses, there is nothing left to lose, and if they play as well as they did this weekend, at least there is a shred of hope…

Tags: Cardiff City, dave jones, garath mccleary, joe garner, lewis mcgugan, match report, nottingham forest   Posted in General, Match Reports

Nottingham Forest 0 – 1 Cardiff City: Match Report and Podcast

A fantastic performance, with everything except goals from us. And once more the second-half sucker punch knocks the stuffing out of us.

Today’s podcast has a run-down of the game, some kind words for the Cardiff fans and a rant about phone-ins. And our answer to the “should we sack the manager” question.

 

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Tags: Cardiff City, nottingham forest, podcast   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Forest v Cardiff: half-time mini report

Nil nil, basically a 4-4-2 with Garner and McGugan upfront. Some defensive lapses, notably from Casual Kelvin, but Camp looks good. Worrying though, we have made a lot of chances without putting one away. Hope we don’t come to regret such profligacy.

Tags: Cardiff City, nottingham forest   Posted in Match Reports