A highly entertaining evening’s football, marred unspeakably by fifteen minutes of madness and Forest’s poor use of possession throughout.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom, despite yet another defeat.
Many teams set up with a point in mind at ‘Fortress Deepdale’ but Calderwood’s Forest, usually characterised by excessive caution, were happy to search for all three.
Preston may have shaded the first half, but it was a refreshingly open game.
By the time the tide began to shift in the final minutes of the half there had been a number of excellent opportunities for both sides.
What ruined Forest’s game was the complete inability to handle possession under pressure.
When Preston moved through the gears, the Forest response was invariably to bowl the ball long – and inevitably straight back to the opposition.
We have seen it a hundred times before. It has cost us dearly in the past, and tonight was no different.
Forest were serving up possession on a silver platter from the second half’s first whistle and we didn’t recover until, in reality, it was much too late.
Farcical
The crucial opening goal was farcical.
A banal Preston corner drifted across the box; Jon Parkin planted his enormous rear in the way of two Forest defenders, and Yule Mawene rose unchallenged to nod past a baffled Smith.
There was plenty of finger-pointing in the aftermath to the goal. Guy Moussi may not speak English, but something tells me Kelvin Wilson’s remarks were of universal clarity.
Forest remained in slumber, and a few minutes later the game seemed completely beyond reach – more atrocious defending from our prize-winning defence, now complete with square blocks in circular spaces.
Our response was accidental at best, and the result of a communication breakdown between Mawene and his goalkeeper.
It did enough to revive hopes, and thereafter we showed flashes of the performance that was so encouraging in the first half.
But in reality we didn’t come at all close to pinching an equaliser that we probably just about deserved.
There was 20 minutes of reasonably sustained pressure but virtually no chances.
Circus
Once again we have been schooled in the increase in quality that comes from stepping up a division.
Preston are not a million miles away from Forest, not by any means, and yet they are getting the basics right.
We have to learn to walk before we sprint, and that includes stamping out the defensive clumsiness that has seen us ship goals at Wolves, stumble to Burnley, and throw away a point this evening.
Alas, the most worrying aspect of the defeat was not the defensive circus or indeed the poor ball retention; it was the players’ reaction to it.
Slumped in the penalty area, stunned by another harsh defeat, the dejected Forest players carried a distinct air of “what next…?”
Three points on Saturday is, all of a sudden, absolutely vital.
