Ratings Vs Birmingham [A]

Smith – 5.5 – before today he had improved some aspects of his game, including his throwing, but today showcased perfectly why some supporters are not happy with him. He invites pressure on to the entire side by snubbing back-passes and inviting defenders to hammer the ball into the stand. At one stage he aimed a limp wrist at a comfortable cross and missed completely. New balls please.

Chambers – 5.5 – some of his forward passing was very poor today, especially when he had time to think about what he was doing. Defensively he was left sprawling at times but he has had much poorer games this season.

Wilson – 6 – solid in patches, but he was a guilty component of a back three that lacked composure all game.

Morgan – 6 – lifted spirits with another cameo in attack, but one or two mistakes in defence.

Moloney – 5.5 – missed a couple of headers and found himself stretched for most of the game.

Heath – 6 – worked exceptionally hard to stay afloat and was one of our better defenders. Struggled in points, but he is coping well.

McGugan – 7.5 – not a particularly combative effort, but he seemed to have regained his talent for the occasion. Quiet in periods, he had several magic moments with his footwork and nearly carved something from nothing three or four times.

Perch – 6.5 – some important tackles to ease pressure on the defence. Provided nothing on the ball, but played a fairly important role for most of the game.

Cohen - 7.5 – another tireless effort and some good football. I was impressed with Cohen’s
breaking forward today, despite one or two frustrating moments.

Garner – 5 – just was not involved.

Tyson – 7 – his pace is a tremendous asset, but alone it is not enough.

Subs:

Newbold – 6 – the experienced defenders saw him coming from miles away. We did see his pace for the first time as he ran across field to fight a lost cause.
McCleary – 6 – I can only think of one run that caused problems.
Breckin – 6 -

Soviet Russia?

From the moment I tumbled out of bed and ploughed my toe into the door frame this morning I was quite sure that this wasn’t going to be our day.

This early trauma was followed by a nightmare day of irksome traffic jams, a panicking sat nav and, ultimately, a disappointing Reds defeat.

At half past five this evening I was parked outside an Asda, literally gluing bits of the car back together as goading Welshmen lumbered by. There can be no better allegory for Forest’s own fortunes.

Davies was left with no choice but to field a patchwork Forest side for this afternoon. The return of Cohen and Morgan gave a timely boost, but the team was tearing at the seams before the game had started.

For 18 minutes we staged an admirable impression of a team with no blemishes to mention, but their opening goal was a hammer blow.

The visiting supporters, in the strongest possible voice for the opening 18 minutes, were left brooding over the reality of defeat.

Forest’s performance degenerated in tandem. Gaps at the back became chasms, and individual errors became fairly regular. Long balls for Tyson were the spirited but futile response.

And through all of this, the Cardiff side we have spent the entire week quaking about were fairly dull.

The famous Cardiff supporters remained fairly unmoved too; their cauldron of horror and intimidation struck me as more like a drop-in centre for the mentally disabled.

Despite our own faults and frailties I did not once give up the hope of a useful point this afternoon.

We scrapped, hassled, battled and harried, all despite the shackles of a referee determined to blow up for every 50-50 and shoulder barge.

The problem was the lack of chances. Tyson was starved all afternoon, latching on to scraps and wayward headers with little effect.

Many thought his determination had brought us an equaliser. I noticed the referee’s gesticulations early on and didn’t bother to celebrate. Whether the goal was ruled out for the challenge on the defender or the goalkeeper I’m not entirely sure.

Cardiff’s second was an almost inevitable response to Forest’s subsequent sulking.

All things considered we probably deserved to lose, but only just.

The home side were organised and confident, but something tells me they were not at the races today and a below par Forest side was never more than a stride behind.

We did very little more than roll up our sleeves and ride our luck on through balls this afternoon, yet we still came desperately close to snatching something against one of the division’s stronger teams.

It makes it even more frustrating that Arthur is baulking over transfer fees – under sensible management we are clearly only two or three players away from being extremely comfortable in mid-table.

Stretched as we are, I am concerned about how many more times we will be man-handled out of the way through a simple lack of numbers. Building for the future is sensible, but why do players signed for a relegation battle necessarily have no use during better times? Baffling.

If next season does bring better times, I have almost no doubt that Cardiff will still be around to share them. They’re punching above their weight at the moment, and without their creaking hovel of an abode next season they may find themselves struggling for points.

The new stadium, for the record, is built in the car park of a supermarket and looks unashamedly as though it is made of Lego.

Residential Cardiff itself remains a colder and less welcoming version of Soviet Russia.

Ratings Vs Cardiff [A]

Smith – 6 – a quiet afternoon. No particularly difficult saves to make. His kicking and ‘commanding’ were below par, but you knew that already didn’t you?

Chambers – 6 – another extremely hard-working display, undermined by familiarly poor positioning. He had the measure of their wingers in the most part, but he is quick to run out of ideas when things get complicated. Seemed to lose his man for the goal.

Morgan – 7 – a welcome return.

Breckin – 7 – solid enough overall.

Wilson – 6.5 – a reasonable game despite being marooned on the left. I’d sooner start Wilson at left back than the much-maligned Lynch.

McCleary – 4.5 – we know all about his potential, and he was fairly useful on Tuesday night, but this was a horror show. Balls were bouncing off him as if he hadn’t played the sport before.

McGugan – 6.5 – dire set pieces and wasted one or two opportunities with scuffs, other than that he was useful in putting his foot on the ball and buying time.

Perch – 7 – vanished a few times but returned to make some important tackles. His sideward passing can be frustrating and unnecessary, but recently it has played into Davies’ hands perfectly.

Thornhill – 7.5 – one of his best performances for the club. Came into his own with plenty of graft and some decent movement.

Cohen – 7 – plenty of work but not as much craft. Allowed his frustration to get the better of him in the end.

Tyson – 7 – did ok on his own, but the partnership he has been working on with Earnshaw wasn’t particularly evident with Garner.

Subs:

Garner – 6.5
Moloney – 6.5

A vital win

A very big win tonight. The kind of win we may look to at the end of the season and feel particularly grateful for, and the kind of win that we most certainly would not have registered two months ago.

The change in manager and the enormous reality check that followed it have, so far, turned the club on its head.

Gone are the promising performances dogged by exasperating decisions and eventual defeats. Welcome to the era of common sense and the delightful knack for, well, winning.

Let’s hope it continues.

Lining up without Bennett, Morgan, Cohen and Anderson is somewhat daunting. The team looked desperately weak and, musing over our prospects in the pre-game traffic jam, I might have taken a draw.

At 0-1 and looking fairly dour, I had no doubt in my mind that a point would suffice.

And then came the magic. Tyson effortlessly despatches a one-on-one, with his right foot, and Jeffers is sent off. All of a sudden it looked almost certain to be Forest’s day.

Most of the second half was abominable. There was very little effort to grasp possession and Wednesday’s height and graft kept pulses racing all evening.

The entire stadium was shrouded by a brooding mood swing over the visitors’ resilience. And who would have thought that Luke Chambers would be the one to emerge from the gloom?

After the second goal, which I hadn’t seen coming, we always looked comfortable.

Tonight was not about a performance, it would about grinding out three points and beginning the laborious process of cementing distance between ourselves and the bottom three. It was about back-to-back home wins, shrugging off a monkey that has weighed us down for months,

Derby tumbling into the relegation zone is a delightful bonus,

The only concern is our mounting injury list. A team without Bennett, Breckin, Morgan, Moussi, Cohen, Anderson, Earnshaw and Garner (suspended) would be hard pushed to thrive even in the league below.

I hope to see one or two new faces before the Cardiff game.

A word on the opposition. Wednesday are a fine old club, and their numbers tonight deserve credit at the very least. We have a common anguish in our burning desire to avoid a return to League One.

Like Forest, Wednesday is a club that has missed the boat in recent years. Both clubs are badly in need of a lick of paint, in a literal sense if you care to look at either stadium.

With bolshie Bill at the helm, I’m more confident than I have been for a long time that our return to splendour might not be so far away.

Ratings: Vs Wednesday [H]

Smith – 6.5 – not the busiest of games but he was generally solid and his distribution (at least when rolling or throwing) was satisfactory. Nearly cost us early in the second half by disappearing into a cloud of bodies and not emerging until a goal kick was given.

Chambers – 6 – beaten rather easily a few times and played some very poor balls, but a vital goal.

Breckin – 7 – a simple and solid display.

Wilson – 7 – as above. Davies’ straightforward approach to defending is doing the job, for now.

Heath – 7 – already better than Lynch. Industrious if imperfect as a defender, and as comfortable in possession as anybody at the club.

Davies – 6 – a bright start, but ultimately something of a disappointment. Disappears all too easily.

McGugan – 6 – perhaps I expect too much from him, but I think he has the ability to take control of games like today’s. Unfortunately he went missing quite often. His set-pieces are useful compared with the alternatives.

Perch – 7.5 – another solid display hoovering up behind the midfield. I’m not a big Perch fan, but he’s been solid.

McCleary – 7 – excellent through ball for Tyson’s goal. He has the credentials, but not always the application.

Earnshaw – 7 – working harder than he ever has before and it’s getting results. He and Tyson have evidently been spending a lot of time together in training – is this the closest thing we’ve had to a partnership since Johnson and Harewood?

Tyson – 8 – looks twice the player of a few months ago. He’s even controlling the ball. It’s funny what confidence can do.

Subs:

Garner – 6 – no change from a pretentious referee.

Thornhill – 6

Moloney – 6

Hysteria Part Two

It’s half time. It has been a disaster.

Weeks of expectancy have passed, building to a crescendo of absent daydreams and nauseating anticipation. At the moment it all seems to have been a waste of time.

I comment that a replay seems as appealing as a final itself. The 45 minutes looming before us has an empty quality and the mood is one of thorough despondency.

As a football fan this is very nearly the lowest point imaginable.

But the best is yet to come. Once again, in a style that has barely seemed possible at points over the last ten years, Forest emerged to salvage pride and send spirits through the stratosphere.

The madness of the 64^th minute is something I would not swap for worlds.

Expansive and vivid though it is, the English language has no words to adequately describe the celebration of goals as meaningful as Earnshaw’s tonight.

It is nothing less than hysteria - a terrifying mass of lunacy and derangement. The noise levels are tempestuous; it is as if the crowd has been set ablaze and is roaring for life itself.

It is almost literally priceless.

On reflection it is a touch disturbing that this sport of ours can pull grown men to the uppermost extremities of human emotion. But it does, and attempting to rationalise it is a job beyond my means.

Two clashes with Derby this season have knocked years off my life, and it is a daunting but impelling thought that we are only half way there.

For long periods tonight the fact that this was an FA Cup tie was unreservedly forgotten and irrelevant. But what it does mean is that somebody must come out on top next time.

Frankly the consequences of defeat seem insufferable.

Defeats to Derby in the past have left me sulking for weeks to follow, but that is what makes these fixtures so enticing.

That is why every single one of us will spend the next ten days or so doing exactly what we did this week – staring into space and relishing the glorious possibilities.

One thing is for sure, we will have to raise our game. Not only for the Derby fixtures, but for the very purpose of survival. Maintaining our exceptional form whilst teams below us tackle disarray could prove crucial.

For half of tonight’s match we were diabolical. Defensively we afforded them time and space beyond explanation, the midfield melted into obscurity, and the forwards chased shadows.

Every cross and every corner threatened to induce heart attacks and Smith, regaled by full time, gave a masterclass in how not to command an area.

In the second half it was a different story entirely. Having the confidence to attack a game can do wonderful things and Derby were left reeling by Tyson, McCleary and Anderson. Their combined pace, with Earnshaw fizzing between them, was simply too much.

For 15 minutes in the second half we dominated but the storm seemed to have past when Earnshaw netted. I shall be forever grateful that it hadn’t.

Overcoming the hammer blow of a manager gone astray is huge. Wes Morgan’s absence for similarly troubling reasons was another major handicap prior to kick off. But we have survived, and now the path to glory has surely been set?

Only time will tell, of course. I’m rather hoping for a repeat of 2003’s City Ground romp – I’m simply not sure that my heart can stand another game like this.

The best of wishes to Billy Davies, who is tackling one of the few circumstances in life that render all of the above completely meaningless.

Ratings Vs Sheep [A]

Smith – 8.5 – a 10 for his second half heroics, but he struggled in the first half. At one stage his front post was exposed for a corner, his response was to shrug and point at it like a scared child. If Smith is to be our number one goalkeeper he really must work on this part of his game.

Chambers – 6 – struggled at times, especially in failing to cut out crosses, but this was a tremendously hard-working display. Chambers adores the adulation of the supporters and is relishing life as a Championship player, I just don’t think he is quite good enough.

Breckin – 7 – a solid performance overall, despite several moments of indecision – particularly later on when legs were dragging. His negative approach to defending can be frustrating, but it suits a team that is under the cosh and I was grateful to have him there tonight.

Wilson – 7 – one of his better performances this season. One or two mistakes, which he atoned for, and a concrete performance.

Lynch – 4 – Kelly says he was injured at half-time, which means Lynch either bottled it or Kelly is protecting him. A woeful display.

Anderson – 7.5 – his pace on the break was fundamental to our recovery. He will be missed. He and Cohen were superb on the break.

Perch – 8 – I’m not Perch’s biggest fan but I thought he matured remarkably for the occasion. His midfield input consisted of little more than scrapping, but some of his last ditch tackles were exceptional.

McGugan – 6.5 – a tale of two halves, as with everybody else. Missed the opportunity to boss the game in the second half; he could have owned the midfield tonight and an on-song Lewis might have won it.

Cohen – 7.5 – somewhat lost in a midfield that was being bypassed completely, but his application made him extremely useful in the second half. I can remember two or three cross-field balls that were remarkable.

Earnshaw – 8 – what a moment, and what an excellent striker’s goal.

Tyson – 8 – looks three or four times the player that he did a few months ago. I now get excited when the ball leaves his boot. Keep it up, please.

McCleary – 7 – a bit of a ‘one trick pony’, but the trick seemed to work tonight. A bit too laid back for my liking, but he got the job done.