lost that loving feeling - Were you watching, David Platt?

If he was, then the first thing he would have noted is that under his own management the Reds beat Sheffield United twice last season. But he would find it hard to deny that his departure in July has left a new air of optimism at the City Ground. Even before kick-off, you got the feeling you were on the verge of something that could be very good. As the media harked stories of Forest’s financial implosion, the 20,000 Reds in the stands all seemed to share the knowledge that a new era is starting in Nottingham with a huge sense of expectation and excitement.

The roar of a re-united City Ground as the teams strolled out onto the pitch was a delight. It was nice to see the players pausing to applaud the fans and it epitomised the feelings of the fans that they have got their team back.

As the game kicked off, Forest soon settled into a comfortable position. The ball was passed around with skill and control and United must have been stunned. Afterall, here was a club on the brink of collapse, yet their team of teenagers were playing them off the park.

The line-up itself was much the same as the one that started against Southampton in the Reds’ previous City Ground outing. Louis-Jean made a return to right back with Keith Foy still filling in on the left for Alan Rogers. Chris Doig looks certain to play a huge part in this season, as does Jon Olav Hjelde, who partnered him in defence, if both can stay fit. Gareth Williams was positioned in front of the defence and just behind a midfield trio made up of Bart-Williams, Prutton and Jenas. Upfront saw Jack Lester and Marlon Harewood make the side as the only fit strikers. And of course Darren Ward made his debut in goal.

But for the early exchanges, it was a fairly quiet debut as Forest created the best chances. Jenas had a good shot saved, as did Bart-Williams from a free-kick. But it was Forest’s build-up play that impressed the most, as they knocked the ball between themselves until a gap appeared.

The gap appeared 19 minutes in. Williams brought the ball forward from halfway confidently. Almost without looking, he squared the ball out to Foy near the left-hand touchline. Foy took a touch, then whipped the ball in towards the front post. Harewood met the ball with his head, but it came straight back to him off the post. But he made use of the second chance and athletically headed the ball into the net.

In his excitement, running off towards the fans to celebrate, team-mates in procession, Harewood managed to clatter the linesman to the ground. This forced a slight delay before the game was restarted, but this just gave the Forest fans more time to celebrate.

And when they did get back underway, the blood still seemed to be rushing around Marlon’s head. He charged forward, latching onto a pass from Lester, and nearly put Forest two-nil up with a shot from the edge of the area, that just missed the top-right corner of the goal.

It was then that we began to see some of the tricks up Paul Hart’s sleeve. Forest, with the momentum of the game and the run of the green behind them, and started to take the game to Sheffield. Their sustained pressure earnt a free-kick, this time more in range for Bart-Williams than his last. Although the shot was put well high of the goal, Forest delighted the crowd (at least the home supporters) by arranging a three-man wall in front of the Blades’ goalkeeper, blocking his view of the kick. Moves like this, and the new short corner routines, would have brought a smile to Cloughie, who was apparently in the stands.

As would the movement of the midfield, something which has been lacking in Forest for some time now. Until now I had been struggling to work out who was playing in what position, but I suddenly realised that they were constantly changing positions. Jenas, Prutton and Bart-Williams were drifting in-between themselves, and it was causing United nightmares in their marking.

This showed as Forest created more chances. The best of which was a cross from Harewood that whizzed across the front of the goal, but just evaded Jack Lester who went down in a tangle with his marker.

Forest also had another free-kick, which proved their blocking technique wasn’t a fluke the first time. Keith Foy took the first attempt, but the ref ordered it to be retaken. Bart-Williams took this one, but hit it against the wall. As Forest let more chances slip through their grasp, Sheffield started making more of their own, but mostly to no avail.

United’s best chance was punched away by Ward as a corner came in and the awaiting attacker was left frustrated. This summed up most of United’s attacks. Forest always had a man back to intercept the pass, or to head the ball away. Doig and Hjelde were both having fantastic games, and were keeping the opposition at bay tremendously.

The Blades were still suffering with possession and getting even more frustrated. A run by Jack Lester across the face of the penalty box was ended by Page’s tackle, and he was subsequently booked for stamping. Again the free-kick failed to make an impression.

The second half started about 15 minutes late, after a delayed tee-off for a minutes silence commemorating the death of Aaron Flahavan and 7 minutes of injury time in the first.

After Forest totally dominating the first 45 (sorry, 52) with such style and flair, Neil Warnock sent his team out to counter this by not allowing them to play this way. After realising they couldn’t out play the Reds, United took the game down to grass roots and attempted to muscle our younger players out of the game.

It worked with some success as Forest were unable to pass the ball as freely as before. But for a while they were still on top. 5 minutes in, Marlon and Lester broke and Jack put the ball in front of David Prutton in the box for an open shot. Unfortunately, he lost his footing just before he made contact and slid to the floor as the ball skewed wide.

Had Forest scored with this chance then the game would have been all wrapped up. But as the game went on, United started to get more into it. With about 20 minutes to go, hearts were racing as Ndlovu shot just wide.

Forest’s own chances were becoming less frequent, and legs were looking tired. However, another chance to wrap up the game went begging as Marlon Harewood had a goal ruled out. He linked up with Prutton who took the ball out wide to the left of the penalty box and slid it in for Marlon who calmly side-footed the ball into the net. But the linesman, probably fearing for his own safety after Marlon’s previous goal celebration, had his flag up. It was a marginal decision and it must have frustrated the Forest players no end as no matter what they did, they couldn’t finish off this game.

Tempers started to rise for both sides and a few silly tackles came in. Harewood, who was having one of the best games of his career, got himself booked in typical fashion in a scuffle with Murphy who was also carded.

Paul Peschisolido was also booked for an appalling tackle on Keith Foy which left clutching his shins in agony on the left touchline.

At this point Paul Hart made his first change, and brought Stern John on for Jack Lester whose batteries had run out. But Stern didn’t really settle into the game and look out of place. He couldn’t adjust himself to the pace of play and didn’t get involved much in his 10 minutes or so on the pitch.

And eventually Sheffield got back into the game for a point they deserved if only for the way they stopped Forest playing to their full ability in the second half. Peschisolido crossed and former Notts player, Paul Devlin beat Foy to the ball and put it in the left hand side of the net behind which the Bladesmen celebrated.

It came right at the death of the game, leaving only 4 minutes of stoppage time in which David Prutton put a volleyed shot over the goal from the edge of the area, but a draw was probably a fair result.

Normally throwing away a game in which you played so well would be filled with bitter disappointment, but never-the-less the team were applauded off the pitch and much deserved the praise. I heard one boo from the Trent End at the final whistle, and this was quickly drowned out by the cheers for the efforts of the team.

This was almost as refreshing to see as the quality of football on the pitch. No single player let us down and the whole unit worked well together. The defence was solid almost through-out and the passing movement of the midfield was inspirational. Jack was nimble; Jack was quick, and Marlon looks like a new player, bursting with confidence.

This game had the air of a pre-season friendly about it, in that the result wasn’t the important thing. Normally a draw at home to one of the teams expected to have another average season at midtable would be a bad thing, but the promise shown today was enough to keep most fans happy.

However, I’m caught in a conflict. Forest should have won this game. Period. But they didn’t. While my head is telling me to be happy about the way the team played, and that we still have a learning team that in 3 years or so could be one of the best ever seen at the City Ground, my heart is saying ‘Sod 3 years time! I want to see Forest winning things now’.

This could be a problem I’ll have to live with for quite a while, but part of the biggest disappointment lies in that I was fully expecting this to happen. I knew that our young players would struggle in a physical game against Sheffield. Yet they had already teased me with their delightful talent to such an extent my expectations were fogged. We deserved to win, yet we shouldn’t have expected to win. That’s a tough concept to handle.

With the benefit of hindsight, more experienced players such as Andy Johnson or Riccy Scimeca might have been more effective in the second half to help cope with the pressure and steady the rest of the team. But as neither even made the bench, it looks like our path is set.

This season will be full of results like this one. But if the performances stay on par with this excellent one then it might not matter. I certainly wasn’t around to experience the start of Cloughie’s reign (in fact my first Forest manager was Frank Clark) but I imagine this is how it felt. The optimism and anticipation is incredible and I hope it lasts.

If David Platt had been watching today, then he certainly would have been impressed with what Hart has done in a month with the players he failed to utilise to full extent. The thing that would have surprised him the most however is that people don’t mind as much if the team lose as long as they have gone down in style, something that Forest fans haven’t seen in many years but might well have to get used to in the near future.