ICF - Forest match report

[It's Character Forming 523]

So this was the 3rd game I''ve had a ticket for this season, but the first I''ve been able actually to attend (due to last minute family chaos before the others). I thought it would be rude not to do a report...

It was overcast and a mild September day as I strolled to the ground, but not the recent unseasonal heat I live and work in Nottingham so this is an important game for me come Monday morning . I got my ticket for the away section (good job in retrospect - thanks Keith!).

Without Tettey, AN put Dorrans and Howson in front of the back 4, Brady/Jacob Murphy on the flanks, and Wes playing just behind Jerome. Good selection IMO.

-After kick off City gave away a careless free kick which let Forest float a ball into the box but it was comfortably dealt with. Then Wes and Jacob M were looking threatening at the other end but nothing came of several good chances.

After 15 mins Forest started to come into it with a fair bit of possession, creating quite a few openings down our left, including one cross fizzed across the 6 yard line with the attacker just not quite able to make contact with the goal open.

It was 2-way traffic though and about 30 mins in Wes was bundled over and the ref gave a clear penalty. A plus of not being in the Prem, a penalty awarded to City away from home. But Wes put his kick to the keeper''s left and he''d dived the right way for a comfortable save, Jerome skyed the rebound from a difficult angle.

This seemed to give Forest impetus and on 40 mins one of their crosses was met by an attacker (a rare one from our right where Pinto was having an excellent game), his header hit the post and flew out to their Greek striker and seemed to bounce in off him, to put them 1 up. The Forest fans started to sing 1 nil to the famous team, surely the saddest football chant of all time.

After the break Forest sat back and City were quickly out of the blocks exerting plenty of pressure towards the end where we away fans were. I thought the half was only a couple of minutes old, when Jonny Howson at the far post from a corner was able to head down and flick it over the keeper, although I see it was timed at 52 mins. TheCity players were now really fired up - you could see from the celebration- and continued to control the game after the restart. And I felt Howson and Dorrans had now settled into their DM roles , closing down and making good interceptions.

On 60 minutes Forest brought on Bendtner but city continued to dominate and it was well deserved when a cross was followed up by a shot which was blocked and came out to Dorrans who lashed it home from the edge of the box. Making up for one he''d put into row z earlier.

City then played some composed football with Bendtner looking like he hadn''t played for a while and well marshalled by Klose. The exceptions were once when the ball dropped kindly to him on the edge of the box and he tried to square it to a colleague who was open for a shot but Bendtner overplayed it and City cleared the danger, and a header which he put weakly wide under pressure.

Generally tho City were in control, keeping good possession and with some good breaks, looking more likely to get the third goal that would end the Forest resistance. Forest were running out of ideas and resorting more to long hopeful balls which we dealt with well, but you knew a one goal lead was still vulnerable to a high ball falling kindly to them.

As 80 mins came up you felt City could do with a sub to freshen things up but we were being sensible and not over committing, and given the subs bench there wasn''t an obvious change to make . Finally Wes came off on 88 mins,good performance except for the missed pen and Jerome and Brady were happy to keep the ball in the corners as the 90 mins ticked down.

When 5 minutes injury time came up this gave impetus to the home side and fans, AN sensibly brought on Lafferty for Jerome and Bennett for Murphy - TBH I can''t tell you how the formation was reshuffled as it was at the far end, but this slowed up the game in exactly the right way, and Lafferty put himself about a bit. There was just time for one last Forest corner, their keeper went up,but City headed clear and were moving up with the Forest half entirely empty, and the ref blew for time.

So a good City performance overall ,not perfect, but excellent to come back from a goal down to win away from home. Plenty of good individual performances- in fact, I wouldn''t say any City player had less than a good performance.

Looking forward to Monday!

[ricardo 2,597]

Thanks ICFgood stuff.[Y]

[sonyc 1,718]

Thanks ICF. A good read. Perhaps this team can start to click. Who was your MOTM? Howson, Dorrans, Pinto, Jacob?

[Herman 3,248]

Cheers pal, nice one[Y]

[morty 0]

Good report.I don''t honestly think I could pick a man of the match.

[Van wink 1,860]

Thanks

[nutty nigel 2,398]

Fantastic. Love the stroll to the ground. The heat is on Rickyyyyyyyyyy

Thanks ICF

[morty 0]

What was your choice of pre / post match drink ICF?

[nutty nigel 2,398]

Please let it be Peroni.....

[Bill 1,552]

"....but excellent to come back from a goal down to win away from home."and that sums it up. Clocking up the points week after week, rather than 6 goals away then lose at home.

[lake district canary 1,504]

[Y] Thanks ICF.  Good report.

[Alex Moss 1,351]

Nice one Bob 👍

[Alex Moss 1,351]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]Please let it be Peroni.....[/quote]

😂

[Lessingham Canary 42]

Good report ICF, think MOTM has to be the city fan who got into the home section and had a cuddle with Baldy, who had gone quiet after giving us stick earlier in the match, all done in good spirit and the steward (who looks like an extra from the 7 dwarfs) dealt with it sensibly.

Enjoy work on Monday.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Lessingham Canary"]Good report ICF, think MOTM has to be the city fan who got into the home section and had a cuddle with Baldy, who had gone quiet after giving us stick earlier in the match, all done in good spirit and the steward (who looks like an extra from the 7 dwarfs) dealt with it sensibly.

Enjoy work on Monday.[/quote]That made me chuckle[:)]

[Alex Moss 1,351]

Gordon - surely you can''t be referring to *THE* Baldyboy of Pink''un ''only here when things are terrible and then want to fight every poster who disagrees with me in a pub down Riverside'' fame? 😂

[City 2nd 84]

morty wrote the following post at 2016-09-18 1:05 AM:

Good report.

I don''t honestly think I could pick a man of the match.

Me neither, but maybe Jacob Murphy just shaded it from a great team performance all round.

[Lessingham Canary 42]

No Alex, this was a Forest fan who had given us some "banter" when they went 1 up, then towards the end he got a fair bit back from our fans, before one slipped over the railings somehow to go and greet him, they shook hands had several man hugs before the steward escorted our guy back into the away section, great banter.

Think your one has disappeared altogether, must admit have forgot about him.

[Alex Moss 1,351]

I have no idea either, perhaps his threats of violence against so called keyboard warriors who couldn''t back up their banter on here finally caught up with his sensitive little soul?! Still convinced he got taken out by Big JR 😂

Great story that buddy - now that is part of what football should be all about, the banter and good sportsmanship at the end of the day 👍

[Boris 35]

some post from forest forum make me proud :-)

"How good was Hoolahan? Was unbelievable second half.

Lots of positives still to take, I thought we were the better side first half against a fantastic Norwich side."

"We were awesome in the first half. We looked strong, we were in control of the game, we held the ball well, we passed intelligently and took the goal well.

Norwich came out all guns blazing in the second half. We never really gripped the game and they outclassed us. We didn''t play badly but we lacked the same self belief we exhibited in the first 45 minutes. "

"Ran the game for them, and it was the slight tactical changes Naaarch made (moving Hoolahan and getting their #8 to sit a bit deeper denying Hilderberto the space he''d enjoyed in the first half) which won it for them.

Best side we''ve played so far. They''ll be top two or thereabouts come the end of the season."

"Glad we didn''t get thrashed, they dominated us and deserved their win. They are a much better side than us and are going for promotion and we are a midtable side. I''m glad velios has scored again. Onwards to next week with arsenal and sheff wedns. Get the defenders on the training pitch Montanier."

"Beaten by a superior side.

Instead of coming away from the game impressed with Norwich, I just got a great feeling of dislike for them. The referee could and should have stopped the cynical bastards from wasting what could have been 10 minutes in the 2nd half alone.

I don''t think we were shit in the second half at all.

We were outplayed and outclassed by a team who will without doubt be challenging auto promotion."

"I thought Naarch showed us what we should be aiming for though. By no means a showy performance from them but they were very effective at shutting the game down once they went ahead. I thought Hoolahan and Dorrans in particular were excellent and that Jacob Murphy will play in the Prem one day."

[morty 0]

Nice one Boris, good stuff[Y]

[Boris 35]

also great picture from Timm Klose facebook showed team spirit is back !

https://www.facebook.com/Timm-Klose-248809631871011/

[morty 0]

[quote user="Boris"]also great picture from Timm Klose facebook showed team spirit is back !

https://www.facebook.com/Timm-Klose-248809631871011/[/quote]Yeah the ladies were loving this!

[morty 0]

[URL=http://s869.photobucket.com/user/mortymccarthy/media/14316996_1111333662285266_2306374310566050864_n_zps80zxpilx.jpg.html][IMG]http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/mortymccarthy/14316996_1111333662285266_2306374310566050864_n_zps80zxpilx.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Duncan Edwards 489]

It''s nice to read stuff like that.

For me, I thought Howson demonstrated exactly why he HAS to play centrally. That said, there were parts of the first half where Tettey was a miss as we didn''t break the game up and perhaps afforded them too much time and space.

Jerome was tireless and as always willing, Jacob was quiet but burst to life in the second period and could (and probably deserved) a goal for a couple of moments of individual brilliance.

Pinto caught napping a couple of times but the way he plays will ensure he''s always a fans fave and Did Martin put a foot wrong today?

All in all, we were value for the win and irrespective of "performance" doubts from the two home games, we''ve played 8 games and built a solid platform to kick on from.

Questions?

Where is Canos? Will I be fit before Oliveira? Where will big money signing Pritchard fit in?

[Daz Sparks 342]

Great report ICF. I could only gauge what was happening from reading posts on here.

Love the story about the baldy Forest fan and Boris''s excerpts from their forum, this thread demonstrates all that is great about the good ol'' Pink''Un!

[Boris 35]

[quote user="Daz Sparks"]Great report ICF. I could only gauge what was happening from reading posts on here.

Love the story about the baldy Forest fan and Boris''s excerpts from their forum, this thread demonstrates all that is great about the good ol'' Pink''Un![/quote]

this from forest forum is summary from 8-9 posts not from only one person!

and was can find 10 more with good words for us!

Simply performance of the season looks like so far.

Strange round all around with newcastle lost from wolves who badly crash 3 days ago etc etc, as we looked tired 3 days ago but yesterday come from behind and played without substitute till 89 minute !