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Hillsborough was queen of stadia in its day but time has pulled no punches in drawing it in line with its grim surroundings. Today the searing late-summer sunshine showcased the rusting blemishes of every corrugated wall.
But the sea of red shirts flooding Leppings Lane was a beautiful sight nonetheless, and for a few precious minutes it seemed the afternoon was going to be all about us.
Spurred by our own ability to assemble such a crowd, the boisterous visiting fans puffed their chests and blew the ball over the line after what felt like seconds.
But the noise dipped, the novelty faded and the performance collapsed helplessly into the realms of mundane, and later simply unpleasant.
Misleading early signs were that Anderson’s pace, Garner’s guts and Blackstock’s presence would be too much for an average Wednesday side.
Shortly after taking the lead Joe Garner spurned a fine opportunity by placing a glorious tee-off straight through a blue pillar and into grasping range of the keeper.
And Blackstock buckled when a scything cross-box ball fell to him with only a blue pillar to beat.
Sadly the blue pillar proved less of an obstruction when Wednesday began their resurgence.
Forest picked up bad habits, squandering possession carelessly and settling for roundhouse volleys into no man’s land. For a long time we cleared immediate danger with this ham-fisted strategy but the equaliser had always seemed inevitable.
Wednesday stuck to their task, growing in confidence throughout the half and deserving their share of the outcome.
In the second half, attacking the swamp of red, there were fleeting signs of a revival. The hosts continued to make better use of the ball, but there were enough bright sparks in the Forest side to keep hopes of an unwarranted victory alive well into stoppage time.
On two occasions in the second half the ball was sent zipping across Wednesday’s goal-line, begging in vain for a conversion.
No such luck. A win would have flattered us, and the performance asked more questions than it answered. But we had the better chances and were only a toe-poke away from a vintage Billy Davies smash-and-grab.
More irritating than the performance was the continued intervention of the blue pillars. And more irritating than the pillars was the referee, an outed Scargill-sympathiser with astoundingly selective eyesight.
Ratings
Camp – 7 – gobbled up every hanging ball with impeccable timing and confidence.
Gunter – 7 – great spirit coming forward and solid at the back.
Chambers – 5.5 – never too far from an accident.
Morgan – 7.5 – some great lunging tackles and a successful brick wall policy throughout.
Lynch – 5 – woeful distribution; mindless long balls looping off target all game.
Anderson – 8 – a real handful
McKenna – 6 – his poorest game at the club. Great desire and work rate, as ever, but played some bizarre passes into enemy territory.
Cohen – 5 – sloppy and off the pace. Needs a settled role in the side.
Garner – 6 – scrappy and determined, but cruising towards a second yellow and a necessary sacrifice for the system.
Blackstock – 7 - kept busy and took his goal well.
McGoldrick – 6.5 – decent performance.
