Derby County 1 Forest 0
NOTTINGHAM Forest's 19-match unbeaten run was brought to a grinding halt, as a goal from Rob Hulse earned Derby County a 1-0 win in a scrappy, hard fought East Midlands derby at Pride Park.
Hulse struck in the 78th minute to earn Nigel Clough's side a precious three points and deal a blow to Reds boss Billy Davies on his first return to his former club.
Forest spurned enough chances to have won the game themselves in the second half, with Dexter Blackstock and Paul Anderson spurning the best of the opportunities.
But generally, Davies' side found it hard to break down the Rams, who refused to allow Forest to play the kind of football that had seen them surge to second place in the Championship table.
There was a cagey start, as both sides prodded and probed in search of an opening – but it was Forest who twice initially threatened.
A far post header from Wes Morgan, from a Chris Cohen corner, was only half cleared by Stephen Bywater and Robert Earnshaw sent a crisp, rising shot goalwards, which Rob Hulse headed clear off the line.
Stephen Pearson came close for Derby with an instant shot that flew narrowly wide following an inswinging corner from Kris Commons.
While Morgan sent a firm, downwards header the wrong side of the post after connecting with a Cohen free-kick delivery.
Lee Camp had to produce the first meaningful save of the game, stretching desperately to palm over as Jake Buxton sent a looping header dipping towards goal following another accurate delivery from Commons.
Commons' ability from set-pieces was proving key for the home side, with Shaun Barker sending another header goalwards, which was this time scrambled clear off the line amid a melee of players.
Forest, in terms of attacking threat, got worse as the half went on, as the game became a scrappy, direct affair in which neither side could retain meaningful possession.
A remarkable run from Majewski finally provided some menace for Forest after the restart but, after he had skipped past two challenges wide on the left, Paul Anderson could not properly connect with his dangerous cut-back.
Rob Hulse had been booked in the first half for a clumsy challenge on Perch and Pearson followed him into the book after the break for a late challenge on Chris Gunter, while Majewski was carded after kicking the ball away.
Forest, at this stage, finally seemed to be getting into their stride and, when Gunter burst down the left, Blackstock seemed certain to score, only for Bywater to save his header and then react quickly to push an Anderson effort around the post from the rebound.
Another run and cross from Majewski had the Derby defence split again, only for Blackstock to fail to connect at the near post, although there was a suspicion of hand-ball as McEveley slid in to block Anderson's subsequent drive.
Two further Derby players were booked in quick succession, Commons for dissent and Nicky Hunt for bringing down Cohen, while, with the game getting increasingly physical, Forest replaced Earnshaw with Dele Adebola off the bench.
Forest were to pay the price for missing their chances as Derby powered into the lead in the 78th minute.
A foul by Perch on the left gave Commons the chance to bend another cross in, this time to pick out Hulse, who flicked a simple header into the back of the net from close range.
After the goal, it was Derby who looked the more likely to net again, as the home side shut up shop at the back.
And the only real flashpoint came as a host of players from both sides became involved in an ugly melee on the touchline, as McEveley refused to return the ball when Forest had been awarded a throw in.
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by Richard, - Forest bottlers
Tuesday, February 02 2010, 3:43PM
“Looking forward to seeing the inevitable slide of forest into the play offs after a devastating , crushing defeat by a better Derby side who battered forest for 90 minutes . Easy as u like . If your a***s fell out in front of 32,000 , then u have no chance in the play off final . Good luck red dogs .”
by Richard, No guts
Tuesday, February 02 2010, 2:50PM
“FACT forest s**t their pants on saturday when they saw the big staduim and big crowd . U could see the forest players were scared and u were definetley the worst team i have seen at Pride Park . 2 European cups...yes yes yes!!”
by mark, uk
Monday, February 01 2010, 3:18PM
“mandy.
oh dear, looks again like you were wrong.
i said shorey was going fulham, and with your massive knowledge of footy said he wasnt....
lol you know nothing and even mardy billy's spat his dummy out now, big bad nigel hit him eh? aww didums. the biggest mardy little sod ive ever seen.
anyway enough of that, onto your points.
So you dont tout players & keep things inhouse then eh?
Perch springs to mind, billy wheres my nappy davies came on tv saying they received an offer but it was too low. now if thats not biggin up the bid i dont know what is.
we had too bigger squad cos if you forgot while you were playing at home to hereford we were playing man utd, so we needed a big squad. After relegation, of course we needed to trim the squad, every club does. Again you spout utter c**p.
And whats losing to scunny got to do with it?, didnt you lose to blackpool, watford, wba? all at home? eh?.
your comments are meaningless and are just ramblings. your club is no different from ours its just your team are over acheiving while were building steadily.
and your comments (again, yawn yawn) about primadonnas, ask billy what earnshaw was like at derby.
Your all bad losers even down to your manager face facts we stuffed yer plain and simple and you cant deal with it. I think the gap will be a lot lot less come the end of the season.
boo frikin hoo.”
by oktoba77, sherwood
Sunday, January 31 2010, 11:22PM
“What's all this guff about quiet Forest fans? What do you sheep expect when you only allocate us 2,000 tickets. We could've came with many, many more than that if your club treated us fairly, as we did you earlier in the season, but maybe its just revenge after we asked your lot not to bring that stupid flag with you.”
by Tim Buxton, -
Sunday, January 31 2010, 10:31PM
“Fair play to Dierby, you stopped us playing our football, the Forest team you saw couldn't cope with your scrappy, let's say battling gameplay, i've got to give credit where credit is due.
But look, its not like you played us off the park, you got a single goal from a set piece and actually looking at the highlights I thought we had great chances to take the lead, just shows you how close the match was, a match you made very scrappy, but worked so well for you!!
I've watched nearly all the Forest matches this season and I must honesty say we weren't our best, but credit to your team, you completely stopped us in our tracks from moving the ball around like we do do and have done all season, except against Watford that dreadful night in August!!
I was sitting in with the sheep, and I must say I would hate to pay watching you week in week out with your type of play non league Nigel is installing, you play like a traditional Stoke / Bolton side, not great on the eye!!
But hey we are both even against each other, so all the best for the rest of the season!!
Hey Reds!! Billy now has a great reason to change a 5-0 winning team away from home in the future which I'm more pleased about to be honest, in hindsight he should of chosen the team that played West Brom off the park, I wouldn't blame him after that away performance against Dierby, if it ever happens again in the future and he changes a 5-0 winning team, think back to Pride Park!!”