Nottingham Forest v Scunthorpe United
City Ground
Coca-Cola Championship - Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Get full audio match commentary on The Iron Player
FULL-TIME
Nottingham Forest 2 Scunthorpe United 0
It wouldn't be fair to say that United were destroyed tonight, but they were second best when it came to the critically important things - scoring and not conceding. I know that seems obvious, but it's the best assessment I can give of this disappointing defeat.
Forest put United under increasing amounts of pressure as the second period drew on, and as they did so, it became more apparent that the Iron would crack. Obviously they did when Chambers found the net following a corner, and after that, realistically, it was all over.
United were not helped out tonight by the fact that Gary Hooper was unable to play, again. Jonathan Forte and Paul Hayes are both quality players, but neither are out-and-out strikers in the same mould as Hooper. When he's on the pitch, Hooper has one objective - to score, and when he doesn't play, United lose something special in attack. I hope he won't be out for much longer.
That said, nobody had a bad game - it was just that the fine line between success and failure was highlighted. Forest will probably view this as no more than a 'routine' win. Without hitting top gear they've claimed three points.
SECOND-HALF
96 Minutes: The whistles blown, and for the first time in a long time (five games), United have lost.
94 Minutes: United are doing the attacking now, Jonathan Forte just collected the ball in the area, but couldn't quite work a shot. Any goal the Iron get will be no more than a consolation though, I guess.
90 Minutes: Six minuted of injury time are added. Forest sub - Tyson makes way for Joel Lynch. This game is ticking away with little of any substance happening.
82 Minutes: From a one-on-one situatuion Jonathan Forte stabs a shot at goal while under pressure, which Lee Camp just gets a hand to. The ball flies into the air, and drops for Martyn Woolford, but somehow he manages to, well, not get it into the net, from about four yards out. Instead, the ball ends up flashing past the post, much to the dissapointment of the Iron fans behind the goal. If that'd gone in, maybe there would have been a route back into this game for the Iron.
77 Minutes: Scunthorpe sub - Thompson is on for Togwell. United were thinking about making that change with the score at 0-0. How quickly things can change, eh.
76 Minutes: Goal for Forest - The ball is rolled across into the United area, and from a simple position Blackstock turns it towards goal. It got a deflection off Josh Wright on the way in, but who the goal is credited to will be down to the dubious goal panel I'd suspect. My guess is that Wright will happy for it to go to Blackstock.
Nottingham Forest 2 Scunthorpe United 0
75 Minutes: Forest sub - Majewski replaced; Moussi on.
71 Minutes - Goal for Forest - I didn't think it was going to come, but it does. Chambers gets his head to a Cohen corner, at the near post and United's resistance is broken at last. Lillis can do nothing to stop it, and is merely a spectator as ripples the back of the net. Chants of "Red Army, Red Army" duly commence.
Nottingham Forest 1 Scunthorpe United 0
70 Minutes: Dexter Blackstock lays the ball off for Nathan Tyson in the area. Tyson converges on the ball at an angle, meaning his shot at goal is very proficient, but Lillis starts where Murphy left off - beating the ball away.
66 Minutes: Scunthorpe sub - Martyn Woolford comes on to breathe some life ino the United attack. Grant McCann treads off the field, not looking very happy with the decision. Mind you, he's on a card, and I'm sure that's at least part of the reason he's being brought off.
62 Minutes: Joe Murphy is down on the floor and requesting treatment (which he gets). Its not a move appreciated by Forest, and their fans are hauling abuse at him - they think he's just attemtping to waste time. But it soon becomes apparent that he's actually injured. And therefore for the second time in three games United are forced into making a swap in the goalkeeping department, when Murphy limps off. That'll be a big loss for Scunthorpe - Muprhy has played inspirationally tonight. Scunthorpe sub - Murphy replaced by Lillis.
58 Minutes: United make what is possiby their best chance of the match, as of yet. A Forest attack breaks down, and Sam Togwell runs away with the ball, before feeding Hayes. Hayes moves up the pitch, and gets to the edge of the area before dinking a shot over the bar. Maybe he could've taken it a yard further before shooting...
53 Minutes: Chris Gunter slips down the wing at pace, and weary of the danger, Grant McCann makes the decision to trip him, just before he can get to the byline. McCann's booked - the very definition of 'taking one for the team. It's starting to rain now at the City Ground...
50 Minutes: Murphy makes the save of the match. It's a reaction save, as he tips the ball over the bar following a Chris Gunter shot from literally three yards out. Gunter was unmarked, and did nothing wrong. It looked a goal all the way. It was simply a fantastic piece of goalkeeping.
46 Minutes: Back underway. Within a few moments Nathan Tyson muscles his way between Jones and Spence to get through on goal. Thankfully, Tyson was sandwiched between the pair for just long enough that Murphy was able to come out and meet him, though - and smuggle the ball from under his nose.
HALF-TIME
Nottingham Forest 1 Scunthorpe United 0
If had to pick, one way or another, I'd say Forest have been the slightly better of the two sides in this half. However, for their slightly greater share of possession, they have yet to test United properly, and therefore Scunthorpe will be encouraged with their first-half performance, which has been... (thinks) ... economical. So far, they've looked pretty comfortable in defence, with Rob Jones ruling the air, and Jordan Spence mopping up anything he might miss.
Up the other end, nothing much has been created, with Lee Camp yet to make a proper save; but at the same time, I feel like there is a goal in this game for the Iron to grab. Ever the optimist, I think United can go on and win this tonight, they just need to carry on what they're doing, and get a lucky break (in other recent games they've gotten them!). I just hope that Spence and Murphy are sensible in this period, they're both on yellows, and treading on a tight-rope.
Forest sub - Joe Garner replaced by David McGoldrick over the interval.
Attendance:18,332
FIRST-HALF:
45 Minutes: Joe Murphy comes to the edge of the area to collect a ball, but according to the referee's assistant, steps out of it in the process. He's not dismissed though. Murphy escapes with a yellow, but is really lucky not to double his money, and turn it into a red when he continues to protest the decision. Forest win a free-kick. They do nothing with it, however. The whistle's blown moments later, and as Murphy leaves the pitch he continues to engage in a seemingly one-way discussion with the referee, as Kevin Pressman attempts to calm Murphy down.
41 Minutes: A Forest corner comes to a dramatic climax when Chambers steers a header towards goal, which hits the side-netting. It's one of those moments when half the ground thinks it's gone in, but as soon as the celebrations have begun; they're over again, when they realise it's gone wide.
40 Minutes: Again Josh Wright finds himself in the centre of the action, Sam Togwell nicks the ball on the edge of the Forest area, before laying it off for Wright, who sends a bobbling shot wide.
35 Minutes: Josh Wright plays a corner towards the near post, where Rob Jones manages to latch onto it. The tall centre-back gets underneath the ball though, and as you may imagine, considering his size, he directs it up, up and over,
32 Minutes: The ball is taken from Majewsi beautifully by Sam Togwell, and United commence another attack, To be honest, they're becoming more frequent now, and the game is becoming much more open. Eventually, Lee Camp gathers the ball. The Forest fans are starting to grow a little restless now. They saw their team control the early part of the game, but they never turned the screw on Scunthorpe, and don't really look like doing so just now.
28 Minutes: United gradually move deeper and deeper into Forest territory through a slick passing move. The ball comes to Marcus Williams on the wing, and it looks like he's going to be in a great position to cross, but then he somewhat comically mis-controls the ball and falls over. It means Forest win a throw, and their fans have a good giggle.
21 Minutes: Michael O'Connor moves the ball out from the heart of midfield to Grant McCann, who's placed slightly upfield. McCann takes a touch to get the ball out of his feet, and curls a shot at goal, which had Lee Camp worried for a moment, before sailing high and wide, if United want to either keep or maintain a potential lead.
17 Minutes: Every ball that United are playing forward at the moment seems to be aimed loosely at Jonathan Forte, who clearly has his work cut out this evening. Forte is chasing them down at the moment, but will need more support from Hayes, who is playing a deep role behind Forte, as the game drags on.
13 Minutes: Jordan Spence gets a yellow for a nasty lunge on Joe Garner. I don't think he meant it, but it was a bad tackle, and well worth a card. From the free-kick they win, Forest create a goalmouth scramble, which ends when Josh Wright boots the ball clear.
10 Minutes: Joe Garner heads wide at the back-post following another Forest corner. The Tricky Trees are in control of the game at the moment, and United haven't yet ventured properly out of their half.
6 Minutes: Chris Gunter finds himself in an acre of space on the right, and picks out his captain, Paul McKenna, darting into the box. McKenna gets a head to the ball, but from the best part of eighteen yards, fails to test Joe Murphy.
3 Minutes: Forest win three corners in a row. They comes closest after the second of them, when Luke Morgan gets a touch at the near-post, but the ball just spins off a defender and wide.
1 Minute: Forest kick-off.
PRE-MATCH
The Iron are on tour at another prestigious venue this evening, the City Ground, Nottingham, to be precise. The stadium is located in the south of the city, in close proximity of three significant landmarks. One is a river, the Trent; the other two are alternative sporting arenas - Trent Bridge cricket ground, and Meadow Lane, the home of Forest's fierce rivals, Notts County.
In fact, Meadow Lane and the City Ground are the two closest stadiums in the Football League - with a minute distance of only three hundred yards (and the river) splitting them apart. The stadium is impressive, with three huge two-tiered stands, looking onto one smaller and more traditional stand, where the dugouts are positioned. Following their recent demise, it's maybe a little easy to forget, especially for the younger generation of fans, what a glamorous past this once renowned club has experienced. The European Cup, the Super Cup and the league title are all competitions that Forest have won over the years.
Nobody will need reminding that United have a decent record on this ground, in their three previous visits. The 4-0 win here over Forest in 2006 is a game that has entwined its way into Scunthorpe folklore, and in the preceding season, United had won 1-0 against the Tricky Trees, despite been colossal underdogs. Both were League 1 fixtures, indeed, United have never lost to Forest in a league match. United's only defeat on this ground came in the 2004 League Cup, but it is important to remember that the teams were two leagues apart at the time. And the result was hardly embarrassing, with Forest edging it 1-0.
Tonight, the teams will line-up as follows. United make only one change from the team that drew with Doncaster at the weekend, with the injured David Mirfin dropping out of the eleven. He's replaced by Cliff Byrne. Josh Lillis, fresh from his loan spell at Grimsby, returns to the bench; as does Ian Morris, since Mirfin fails to make the eighteen altogether. Gary Hooper also misses out through injury, for the third game running.
Nottingham Forest: Camp,Chambers, Morgan, Anderson, Taylor, Garner, Cohen, Gunter, McKenna (c), Blackstock, Majewski. Subs: Smith, McGugan, Adebola, Earnshaw, McGoldrck, Moussi, Lynch.
Scunthorpe United: Murpy, Jones (c), Byrne, Spence, Williams, Togwell, McCann, O'Connor, J. Wright, Forte, Hayes. Subs: Lillis, Canavan, A. Wright, Sparrow, Woolford, Morris, Thompson.
Referee: Mr. D. Webb
SCENE-SETTER
The Iron have fond memories of their last two visits to Nottingham Forest's City Ground, and will be hoping for more of the same when they make the relatively short journey there on Wednesday night (7.45pm kick-off).
In August 2005, a goal from debutant Billy Sharp secured a memorable 1-0 League One victory for Brian Laws' side. Then, 14 months later in front of the live Sky television cameras, it got even better as Scunthorpe won 4-0 in a top of the table League One encounter with the Tricky Trees - Cleveland Taylor, Andy Keogh, Ian Morris and Sharp scoring.
This season's match there will see United visit Forest for the first time in almost three years and it will be Nigel Adkins' first game there as manager.
He has done plenty of homework on Billy Davies' side, who are expected to play a 4-2-4 attacking formation.
There will be a lot of focus on his own squad too though as the Iron look to extend their unbeaten run to six matches.
David Mirfin is expected to shake off the groin problem which forced him off against Doncaster and start at the City Ground alongside ex-Forest transfer target Rob Jones at the heart of the Scunthorpe defence.
Jonathan Forte could also figure, after being stretchered off against Rovers on Saturday with an eye injury.
Elsewhere, Gary Hooper is getting closer to a return from the hamstring problem which has ruled him out for the last two matches but the Forest game could come too close.
Pushing for recalls to the side are midfielders Martyn Woolford and Matt Sparrow, with a change of formation a distinct possibility for Scunthorpe.
Ben May will miss out with an ankle injury while Kenny Milne still sits out as he continues his recovery from the two knee operations he had last season. He hobbled off in Monday's reserve defeat to Sunderland but the manager says it was only a slight knock and he'll be in contention for the next reserves match at Hartlepool United in a fortnight.
The hosts are waiting on the fitness of striker Rob Earnshaw, who missed Sunday's 1-0 win at Plymouth with a pelvic injury,
There are also concerns over the fitness of defender Kelvin Wilson, who was withdrawn during the second half against the Pilgrims with cramp. Julian Bennett and James Perch remain absentees.
The referee for the game is David Webb from County Durham.
