.
Profuse
apologies to all for the unusually late filing of this - it is now
almost midnight and I suspect that the Webmaster has long since
gone to bed, so you might not see it until Tuesday morning. No excuses
- other than my final away game of the season, a meeting with several
of the London Exiles and the inevitable sampling of a few watering
holes on my way home. A very late entry for away pub of the season
was contributed by the Crabtree (but several points deducted for
running out of bitter by 2:15). Plus two new categories all of their
own - Poshest Post-Match Drinko-rama (The Ritz, no less, courtesy
of The Eye) and Most Poncey Post-Match Eats (some Japanese scrinson
in Soho called Wagarama - special thanks to Roger. Pretty good,
actually. But still poncey).
Anyway - you don't want to hear the details of my enjoyable evening;
how was the match? Kind of a dry version of Saturday, to be honest.
Lots of honest endeavour by both sides, a few moments where the
whole thing threatened to break out into a football match (but it
never really did), a couple of good goals (OK, so we didn't get
those on Sat) and everyone home happy enough but slightly soporific.
End of season, not much for either side to play for - need I say
more? And in the end a point which makes us even mathematically
safe, being 7 points ahead if Walsall with 2 games left. Realistically
I'd say we have been safe for a while, but it is always nice to
have it confirmed. Forest started much the brighter, with Jack's
movement and Andy Gray's seemingly unique (by Forest standards)
ability to win the ball in the air causing problems for Fulham's
defence.
After about 12 minutes Marlon gathered the ball in midfield and
set off on a run at the centre of the obligingly retreating Fulham
defence. Eventually even the lumbering Melville thought he'd better
challenge, so Marlon slipped it to Jack, who turned inside and beat
Tailor all ends up, only for the ball to hit the post and bounce
clear. Unlucky - and a lesson about what could be achieved by keeping
the ball on the ground (if so, it was one which was all-too-often
ignored). Five minutes later Jack went one better. This time Johnno
won the ball in centre field and ran at the defence. Once again
the Fulham back-line parted like the Red Sea (or, if you prefer
your analogies a tad less biblical, like ours against Charlton),
Johnno slid the ball perfectly into Jack's path and he buried it
beneath Tailor. 1-0 to us, the fans in decent voice, the sun shining
and everything happy with the world.
Needless to say Fulham - who at this stage had shown us absolutely
nothing - suddenly sprang in to life (which is more, incidentally,
than could be said for their support; I thought we were quiet at
the City Ground until I heard [or rather didn't] this lot. So much
for the theory that terracing makes for more singing!).
They began to play the ball around more, Goldbaek and Clark became
more prominent and our defence was under much more pressure. None
the less, TV and Terry were handling everything coming their way
easily enough, so it was frustrating that from their first serious
attack they drew level - a corner from the right managed to evade
everyone and reach Chris Coleman on the edge of the box (so who
was marking him, then?). He met it on the volley and slammed it
into the top corner. The rest of the half was pretty much all Fulham.
Not that they looked like scoring again, but they were at least
playing some pretty football in midfield. Half time, then; 20 minutes
of Forest, 25 minutes of Fulham,1-1.
The second half was much more sleepy. They continued to play neatly
enough but without much penetration, we counter-attacked rather
more spasmodically than we would have wished - with neither goalkeeper
being exactly rushed off their feet. Prutts did force a good save
from Tailor at his near post, and Hayles occasionally found space
around the edge of our box, but you would hardly say that either
side was pouring forward or either keeper having to play a blinder.
At one stage we Forest fans even briefly thought we had scored from
a Marlon header which must have been clawed away on the line. It
wasn't that we could tell from the other end, but the way the ref
gesticulated, blew and ran towards the centre circle was sufficient
to get us cheering a goal for a few seconds. (So, not much derision
from the home fans there, then...) Frankly, it was sunny end of
season stuff, and even the crowd almost dozed off until the final
few minutes. Then suddenly, with 2 minutes to go, Geoff Horsefield
(you remember him - he's the one who the London press were telling
us would soon be playing for England) is in the centre, Terry slips
and falls over for his single mistake of the afternoon, leaving
Horsefield 4 yards out, unmarked in the centre of the goal. Dramatic
swing of right foot, complete air shot, ball hits standing foot
and dribbles embarrassingly wide. Classic stuff (and if that bloke
is an England centre forward then I am Ronaldo. Horsefield? I think
not - the word Donkeyfield springs to mind.) So 1-1 we finish (and
1-1 was a fair result in my view).
A decent enough, if unspectacular performance (and the unheard-of
luxury of a 5-match unbeaten run). Terry his now customarily excellent
self at the back - like all really good defenders, he seems to spot
what is going to happen that half second quicker than anyone else,
so when he wins the ball it all seems faintly inevitable. Jon Olav
and TV between them doing pretty well in the other slot in the centre
of defence. Andy Gray, whilst not beating Uulenbeek (or however
you spell it) as often as he might have done on the outside, won
absolutely every header against him and generally had his best game
for a good while. And Jack had his best game for us, being constantly
in motion and constantly a pain in Coleman's backside, hitting the
post once and scoring a well-taken goal. On the other hand Tank
had a complete stinker, seldom passing to anyone in red and even
managing to mess up almost 100% of his throw-ins (sorry, Alan, but
it's true - perhaps it was the fact that the programme singled you
out as "One to Watch" which put you off...). Riccy looks positionally
exposed as a right back. Our set pieces remain on the crap side
of average, and in general we were decidedly lacking in creativity
going forward in midfield.
But if you had offered us a 1-1 draw in the pub beforehand we'd
have taken it, so we ought to be satisfied enough from a quiet game.
Fulham? Neat, nice passing, good intentions. But no penetration
- desperately need a new centre forward, I'd say (though presumably
Donkeyfield can't be that dire every week). Hayles is dangerous
but not prolific enough, and Pescisolido couldn't score in a brothel.
Fulham have been top ten or better all season, and they didn't look
anything special.
Over to you for some of that consistency, Platty, and we can do
the same.
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