eighteensixtyfive

Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Middlesboro: match report and podcast

6 points from two tricky games, and a record of nine consecutive home victories. Crisis?

The now traditional home 4-4-2 saw us line up as follows:

Scrappy, physical, untidy. These are all just words. As are three points and clean sheet.

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, james perch, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, middlesboro, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, rob earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Sheffield Wednesday: match report and podcast

After last week’s setback (and its subsequent fallout), we finally get back in action in front of nearly 4000 Wednesday fans.

A couple of changes see us line up in a 4-4-2:

This saw Tyson replace Anderson on the left (probably giving Ando a rest) and Moooooose replacing Majewski in the middle – a controversy that Billy brought to everyone’s attention in the post-match interview. As you’ll hear, we have our own feelings on this; Billy and the club are both playing a dangerous game.

As for the game itself, it was pretty poor from us, Wednesday looked well-drilled and organised, but the match really belonged to the officials who were as poor as anything I’ve seen in a long while.

 

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Tags: billy davies, chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, Guy Moussi, james perch, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nathan tyson, nottingham forest, paul mckenna, rob earnshaw, sheffield wednesday, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 5 – 0 Queens Park Rangers

My first midweek game in ages against an “ambitious” side with lots of money and love of merry-go-rounds saw 23500 at the City Ground – a decent attendance for a cold Tuesday night, especially as QPR didn’t bring that many.

Mr Davies saw one change from the team against Reading, with James Perchio replacing the suspended Nicky Shorey at left-back. From the sounds of it we are working hard to secure a loan extension for Shorey, so I hope it’s not the last we see of him in a red shirt.

So the line-up was:

And again our unbeaten run continues, our fantastic form continues and our amazing football continues. The players look so confident they could beat anyone and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves – we barely broke a sweat as we banged them in.

One more goal would have seen us go top, above Newcastle – if I were a Geordie I’d be very nervous right now – when was the last time you complained about only winning five nil?

Lastly, Billy was on Radio 5 – he was stressing the importance of building your infrastructure slowly, of taking your time to go up. But the interviewer said if we carry on like this, we’ll have no choice – we’ll be up this year. To which Billy replied “I still have unfinished business in the Premiership – it holds no fear for me”. Absolutely awesome.

So what are you doing on Saturday?

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, james perchio, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, Queen's Park Rangers, radoslaw majewski, Robert Earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Reading

After our cup exploits against Birmingham, Billy reverted back to his (probably) first choice line-up, in an orthodox 4-4-2 – with a surprise return for Earnie and no place, even on the bench, for the Moooooooooooooooose.

The first half was as good a performance as I have ever seen; obviously brimming with confidence and ability. But the second half saw complacency sink in and if it wasn’t for Lee Camp it could well have no points, not three.

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nicky shorey, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, reading, rob earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Coventry City

Another game undefeated for Billy’s men.

Five changes from the draw at Watford saw us line up, initially as a 4-4-2, but later as a 4-3-3 (Cohen moving to left midfield and Tyson joining Dex and Earnie up front).

Campo,
Gunter, Morgan, Wilson, Shorey,
Cohen, McKenna, Majewski, Tyson,
Earnshaw, Blackstock

Coventry set out to make life difficult for us and it worked – for most of the game, things were pretty dour. But two fantastic goals, pretty much out of nothing sealed yet another victory for us.

Points to note: both Earnie and Dexter were outstanding, Raddy got his own chant as he was substituted and McCleary, Lewis and Dele terrified the knackered Coventry players when they came on at the end. But it was the defence winning the plaudits today, with both Morgan and Wilson truly outstanding.

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, coventry city, dele adebola, dexter blackstock, garath mccleary, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, lewis mcgugan, nathan tyson, nicky shorey, nottingham forest, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, rob earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

The juggernaut rolls on… News roundup

In the week that saw an amazing result, followed by a quietly satisfying one last night, little Robbie Earnshaw was rewarded for his “proper” hat-trick (c. Rahoul) with a place in the Championship Team of the Week.

However, that does not stop Billy Davies insisting that Forest are not ready for promotion, although he does drop in a teaser about potential new signings. Vital Forest are optimistic about a number of targets, including making Nicky Shorey and Raddy Majewski permanent players, and signing Gareth Bale on a temporary deal with the option to buy.

On the subject of last night’s draw at Bramall Lane, it seems that Lee Camp either gained us a point, or Dexter Blackstock cost us two (really?). Ned Kelly was happy with the result and Campo’s performance, although the custodian himself is keen to heap praise upon the in-form centre-half pairing of Wes Morgan and Kelvin Wilson. Things not looking too bad at the moment are they?

Tags: billy davies, dexter blackstock, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, ned kelly, nicky shorey, radoslaw majewski, Robert Earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in News

Nottingham Forest 5 (five) – 1 Leicester City

The East Midlands premier, most important, highly charged local derby was an excellent affair.

After ten minutes of hoofball we took control of the game, playing excellent, incisive, passing football at pace – and Leicester had no real answer. A couple of bits of referee weirdness, a guest appearance by the 2nd Mercian regiment on their return from Afghanistan (who got a fantastic reception from the crowd and a goal dedication from Rob Earnshaw) and goals galore.

Phew – what a day – the best entertainment I’ve seen at the City Ground in ages.

Unfortunately it’s a solo podcast today as my brother was away (and he will be for the next few weeks), so a bit shorter than usual and probably less professional (haha).

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nicky shorey, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majeski, robbie earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 4 – 1 Doncaster Rovers: match report and podcast

The biggest win of Billy Davies’ Forest career saw us line up in a 4-4-2 formation:

Aston Villa loanee and potential January target Nicky Shorey slotted in at left-back and an injury to the Moose saw us drop the two-defensive-midfielder-five-man-midfield formation.

But while the first half was quite subdued, Majewski, in particular, took the game by the scruff of the neck to see us batter Donny in the second half.

 

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Tags: billy davies, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, garath mccleary, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nicky shorey, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, rob earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Bristol City: match report and podcast

We lined up unchanged from last week’s heroics at Cardiff with Billy again playing McGoldrick as a lone striker in front of a packed midfield.

The game itself started with an impeccably observed minute’s silence for Remembrance Sunday today. And then settled into a pattern of defensive organisation from Bristol and frustration for us. Joe Garner looked particularly frustrated out on the right (but looked great when he played centrally) and Moose was more of a headless chicken than usual. But it was fantastic to see us try to play our way through them, rather than just resorting to hoofball. And Adebola, when he came on, made a real difference – probably the best I have seen him play for us, in front of his old club.

 

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Tags: bristol city, chris cohen, chris gunter, david mcgoldrick, dele adebola, Guy Moussi, joe garner, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

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