Goal shy Forest suffer another 1-0 defeat as Cardiff take spoils
NOTTINGHAM Forest notched up a tenth hour without a goal – and a seventh match without a win, as Cardiff became the latest side to condemn them to a 1-0 defeat.
A goal from Kenny Miller was enough to earn the Welsh side all three points and pile yet more misery on Steve Cotterill's side, who were not helped by an erratic display from referee Andy Woolmer.
The match official was not to blame for the Reds' lack of cutting edge however, as they made it 630 minutes without finding the back of the net on an afternoon when opposition keeper David Marshall was rarely troubled.
With Bristol City having won on Friday evening, it left Forest three points adrift of safety, with confidence at a low ebb.
Their hopes will now be pinned on 32-year-old striker Marlon Harewood, who has signed for the club until the end of the season, following a spell playing in China.
He is unlikely to be available for the trip to Ipswich on Monday however, unless the club find a way to rush through his international clearance.
It had started well initially for Forest, as they cranked up the pressure on the Cardiff goal in the first minute, when Robbie Findley beat David Marshall in a race to the ball on the edge of the box, where the keeper brought him down with a sliding challenge.
It earned the Cardiff man a booking – and gave Forest the chance a free-kick in a threatening position, which Greening delivered to the far post, where the ball eventually fell to Luke Chambers. But the skipper failed to muster enough power in his header to trouble the Cardiff goal.
Having lost Paul Anderson to injury after only seven minutes on Boxing Day, Forest suffered another blow when Findley – who had himself been brought into the side in place of Dexter Blackstock, who was ruled out with a calf strain – limped off after only six minutes.
He was replaced by Matt Derbyshire off a bench that, for the first time, also included young front man Patrick Bamford.
Assistant referee Amy Fearn did not do herself any favours when she got a throw-in decision badly wrong right in front of the Reds fans in the A-block of the Main Stand.
Chambers had to make an outstanding block, throwing his body in the way of Rudy Gestede as he let fly with a crisp volley 12 yards from the Forest goal.
Although, at the other end, McGugan also saw a shot charged down after a corner was cleared to the edge of the box.
And, after Gunter had battled his way into space on the right, he fired in a dangerous low ball to the near post, where Garath McCleary should have scored, in the 25th minute, but fired his instant shot right at the keeper, who just managed to hold.
The two men combined again two minutes later, with the same end result, with McCleary picked out in space, this time 25 yards out, but sending his shot badly wide, after failing to connect properly.
McCleary did rather better when, following good work from Moussi, he was given the chance to run at the Cardiff defence and carve out the room for a left-foot shot that, this time, was struck cleanly, forcing a solid save from Marshall.
Camp's reactions – and athleticism – were tested on the stroke of half-time as Cardiff threatened through the experienced figure of Miller, who fired a low shot that was bound for the bottom corner before the keeper got across to push the ball away.
The second half began in lively fashion as a spectacular, driving run from Greg Cunningham culminated in an exchange of passes with Tudgay which almost put the full-back through, if not for a timely interception from Ben Turner.
Referee Woolmer, who had struggled to keep control of the game in the first half, continued to make a series of strange decisions after the break, managing again to get simple throw-in decisions wrong.
Cardiff should have gone ahead when Forest failed to deal with a looping ball into the box from Whittingham, with the ball falling perfectly to Miller just six yards out. But, with the goal at his mercy, the striker somehow flicked his shot wide of the post.
When Whittingham was given the opportunity to deliver from an identical position wide on the right, Cardiff – and Miller - this time took full advantage, as the Scotland international rose well to send a looping header over Camp's head and inside the post.
It again left Forest needing to end their goal famine just to secure a point.
Forest almost hit back immediately as a foul by Hudson on Tudgay gave the home side a free-kick on the left side of the area.
McGugan delivered a brilliant ball, bent towards the far post, that both Derbyshire and Cunningham narrowly failed to connect with as they slid desperately in.
A moment of brilliance from McGugan almost earned Forest a spectacular equaliser as he connected perfectly with a volley 20 yards out, but saw his effort arrow just a few feet wide.
Cardiff were sitting deep and allowing Forest to build pressure on their goal, with Greening seeing a shot deflected over for a corner – which Lynch just failed to connect with at the far post when unmarked.
Lynch, who had been booked for a foul late in the first half, had an escape when he slid in late on Gestede by the corner flag, with a challenge that could easily have earned him a second yellow.
Forest made a double change with little under 10 minutes to go, as the veteran midfielder Andy Reid and young striker Patrick Bamford were introduced in place of Derbyshire and Greening.
Bamford was involved as Forest won a corner almost immediately, which Reid delivered menacingly towards the far post – but again went unconverted.
And, as time ticked on towards the final whistle, Forest's attacking threat seemed to diminish as well, as they found themselves limited to a flurry of shots, from the edge of the box, that were all charged down.
When Reid won a free-kick on the left, McGugan again provided a decent delivery, forcing Marshall into a desperate, punched clearance.
But that was as close as Forest came to finding an equaliser, as Cardiff held on for the win.
97 Comments
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by fashy1
Monday, January 02 2012, 11:01AM
“reddogj - It was Jan 1st yesterday, not April 1st. Are you honestly saying that you believe this? If my life depended on choosing which was more reliable, this Arthur "quote" or SkeggyM's Mexican weather forecast...how's the weather, Martyn.”
by inoffthered
Monday, January 02 2012, 10:21AM
“Reddogj,
Never let the truth get in the way of your blind prejudice.
I think you'll find that forest HAVE to let visiting clubs have a certain percentage of seats for cup games. Normally, clubs can't sell the usual allocation in the Bridgford End, but Fester wanted their full quota.”
by reddogj
Monday, January 02 2012, 10:00AM
“Agree with BigRodNFFC and HueyTheNoose and most other sane posters on here.
CLICK ON THE BELOW LINK AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS.
http://tinyurl.com/84m6rqr
It's simply divide and conquer tactics used by the board. It appreared that Doughty lost interest a while ago the final nail in the coffin being England's failed WC bid and ultimately the loss of the Council funded new stadium cash cow.
He has stated himself on radio that he resigned because he he had made mistakes the final one in removing Billy and appointing Steve McClaren.
I wouldnt be surpised if NOT allowing SC his own back room staff was another ND/MA masterstroke?
Smokescreens that he resigned due to FFP and a few protestors are frankly ludicrous, Believe me the protests I observed were no way strong enough to push anyone out especially a corporate hard nut like Doughty and he is still in full control being the ultimate shareholder.
Once again we have a divided fan base because some of us have woken up and smelled the coffee and are prepared to speak up for the good of our club whilst others (including bizzarely Sheep Fans) are happy to sit an toe the Doughty/Arthur fantasy and sleep through it (Most likely people that dont attend matches or purchase season tickets hence their lack of real passion). Did anyone not see what Arthurs missmanagement almost did for Notts Cricket Club? (The man has form) the latest idiotic decison to isolate and put off fans by giving leicester 8,000 tickets and moving season ticket holders to accomodate?? Why not just give them their usual allocation and give an even bigger discount to Forest fans and get 30,000 in? Another short sighted plan that has again put the fans backs up!
Until we have new owners (doubtful as per above link) or the true FOREST fans totally unite we are unfortunately going only one way.
A saddened Red.”
by Paulderby
Monday, January 02 2012, 8:17AM
“Sometime in the not to distance future when your manager goes on radio after a win and says your best player on the day has been offered a new contract which he does not think he will accept you will know what Doughty gave Forest that Derby and most others did not have
It is amazing to read some of the comments about him on here .from people who have maybe spent £400 for a ticket not £75M
interesting point about billy after WBA game ruining the momoent as he did that for us after the play off final ,before the prem seson and after we just lost to chelsea and ruined all those moments ( he was sacked after chelsea game for claiming he had not spoken to the chairman-sound familar?)
when we were top our board let billy spend about £6M on top of the summer money -we came 3rd!! and none of those players were ever targets for other clubs as they were average players
seems strange Billy uses the same tactics over again -maybe not to his supporters as his record is second to none (well to most actually but never let the truth get in the way )
in truth he left us (and Paul Jewel) in a mess which nigel has taken 3 years to sort and Cotteril will need as long to reshape a badley balanced squad but no doubt the bring Billy back team wont let him have that time
final point why have no other club offered Billy a job yet because he lives in scotland,cant manage without 12 assistants,signs only expensive players on long deals or has only got 1 team promoted in all his career ?”
by redsong
Monday, January 02 2012, 6:02AM
“Big Rod and Huey -
Your constant gripes about Billy not being supported by ND is not backed up by the facts:
22 signings some of them on top money - Kris Boyd
Not sold any of the squad (apart from Perch) despite offers for Mcgugan, Camp, Laschelles Wilson Gunter and others
One of the highest wage bills in the Championship over 100% of turnover most of this due to Billys signings
Was prepared to buy Sinclair and G Boyd - not stellar enough for BD and on and on...........
The comment that if we had backed him in January we would have been in the premier league now is very debatable. Leicester spent 14 mill in the close season, how they doing?.
How much should ND have committed in the Jan windows? Billy was only interested in Stellar signings i reckon his 3 that he was hanging out for Shorey. Whittingham and Pratley would have cost us over the span of their contract conservatively ( 10 million transfers plus 7 mill in wages) about 17mill. Even if they had wanted to come and their clubs were happy to sell to us would you be happy if our chairman committed to another 17 mill of debt without any guarantees?
Since you like analogies - your criticism of ND for the january windows is a little like buying your daughter a new car for xmas = letting her use it the week before and then getting abused by her when she hasnt got anything to unwrap on xmas morning.
Huey i am sure you are proud of your abusive campaign. The fact that you worship the most manipulative, obnoxious manager in our history does not surprise me either. He does have an appeal to some.
Think you need to scream a little louder, stamp your feet more, try holding your breath till you are really red in the face -I am sure that will get the job done.
Huey as you are so fond of saying .......strewth!”
by HueyTheNoose
Monday, January 02 2012, 1:03AM
“RedSONG...You are wrong, I have not been having a go at Doughty for the last two years. It is much longer than that. I am proudly one of the people that helped kick off the 'Free Forest' campaign. I have been saying for years that him and Arthur could not pull a bird in a brothel. During that time Doughty enjoyed massive support from the likes of you. I am very glad to say that we are now looking at the end game as far as Doughty is concerned. These years will be looked back on by all fans as some of the darkest in the clubs history. As for Mark Arthur, we will see what happens to him after he leaves our club. I very much doubt that he will have a future at a football club.
As for Billy moaning (something that never bothered me with either Billy or Brian Clough) after we had beaten WBA. I, like you, do not know what Billy was promised when he took the job. But I can imagine that it was pretty similar to what Steve McLaren was, and we know what that was, because he told us. I would think that after the win against WBA, Billy thought that it was a good time to push for more signings. Pretty sensible if you ask me. And lets be honest, if Billy had been backed in those two windows, there's every liklihood we would be in the Premier League now. Not struggling at the foot of the table. Billy was not backed because Mr Doughty did not want to give him the money. He was sacked because Arthur and David Pleat wanted rid of him. Arthur, no doubt could not stand the fact that he was still hated at the club. And that Billy was very well liked by the vast majority of fans. The ridiculous acquisitions panel set up by Mr Doughty was a complete failure, and was used by Pleat and Marthur to play politics against Billy. Now they could say. "NOT ME GUV, IT'S THE AP" another one for Doughty's long list of c**k ups.
This club has been very poorly run, from top to bottom since Doughty took over. And not once has Arthurs job ever looked in danger. After the debacle at the start of this season, and Doughty resigned as Chairman would not the honourable thing for Arthur to do would be to resign? Mind you, the word honourable should answer that question.”
by BigRodNFFC
Sunday, January 01 2012, 11:54PM
“Doughty was looking for any excuse to jump ship and he was made to look a liar in the national media and Football world by Steve McClaren, the fans having a go on him and his family on Twitter and Facebook didn't help but who would you rather look a t**t too, your mates and the football world or some randoms gobbing off on the internet so he had to resign to save face.
To blame it all on a few people who had been ignored for 12 years and running at that point and the sight of ten green and white scarves is a joke.
You can trace the beginning of the end though from when It started to turn nasty when fans who had sat by for 12 years letting the board do what they want simply asked why aren't we spending any money in the two jan transfers, then the threats of; 'Don't question us or Mr Doughty will take his ball and go home' by Mark Arthur in this very paper then happened to shush everyone up and it all slowly went downhill on and off the pitch and turned into a snowball effect from their and lead to this inevitable junction and sadly lead to a minority of people hurling pent up anger and abuse at Mr Doughty and his family through public channels.
Before you try and blame fans, ask yourself, who sacked Billy Davies, Who hired, Steve Mclaren and give him the purse strings? It wasn't the fans so even if the few protestors didn't actually protest we would be in the same or worse situation anyway.
Yes some of the fans had bad behaviour, but to blame this all on the fans is like blaming random people in a shop for forcing you to buy loads of stuff when in reality it is no one but you going to the till with your card and typing your pin number in for all the goods.”
by redsong
Sunday, January 01 2012, 11:35PM
“And another thing Huey - you seem very quick to accuse fans of being deluded!
At the same time you throw out this insult - you encourage the club to get on the phone to our Billy and bring him back. I am sure you and the other greenies believe Billy's offer to help out for a few months was genuine and not our Billy being mischevious dont you?
Anyone who believes that " I have a bridge to sell them"!”
by redsong
Sunday, January 01 2012, 11:17PM
“Huey - you and your mates have abused our club and particularly our chairman almost incessantly for last two years. After thumping WBA and going second normal fans were not even allowed to enjoy the moment as Billy orchestrated criticism of the club because he wanted more stellar signings to go with the 22 signings our chairman had bought for him to play with.
Your sensitivity to any criticism of you and the glums is interesting considering how forcefully you anonomously hand it out!
The situation we are is exactly as predicted by the majority of reasonable fans who knew that there are no buyers out there and for all his errors and faults our ex chairman had put in an enormous amount of money in an attempt to achieve premier league.
I am sure this post like others will be dismissed as a "Doughty lover or happy clappy"
I am neither. I am just a football fan of many years who as a human being feels uncomfortable with the abuse spewed on individuals at our club for the unforgivable sin of not getting promotion.”
by tfaulkner
Sunday, January 01 2012, 10:40PM
“Its Doughtys fault, he brought McClaren in and allowed him to bring in players on big contracts who arent good enough. He should be big enough to sort it out not wash his hands of the ensuing mess were in.”