A day out of the Armchair 29/11/02 | by Peter Collison (Issue 3)

After an absence of far too long, I wander back to the familiar ground of LTLF. After suffering a lack of ideas for my column, I decided to wait until I really had something to talk about: Yes, the first game I’ve watched at the City Ground for a couple of years. So sit back and enjoy my account of the day when I realised, no matter how long you stay away from the City Ground, nothing changes...

As with most people, I chose to go to the Brighton game because of the cheap £5 ticket. I meant to do it last year when the Reds played Bradford but, as with most things, I was working. Thankfully this week was one of my few weeks off work so I made sure of getting myself a ticket for the game.

Thinking ahead, me and my dad decided that parking at the far end of Trent Boulevard wouldn’t be such a bad idea, I told my dad to meet me in the Brian Clough stand as I quite fancied getting chips from the Bridgford Restaurant. Coming past McDonalds I was pretty shocked to see the queue extending out the shop and going back down Radcliffe Road! Deciding that getting a burger from the nearby burger van was not an option (as I didn’t fancy getting salmonella) I decided to join the queue and just wait.

As I wasted half an hour in the queue, I noticed a guy who seemed to be shouting every now and again, I turned round to see exactly what was going on and found out that the guy was selling the Blooming Forest fanzine and "FANZINE" was what he was shouting. I felt sorry for the poor sod, especially when it started to rain. I even thought of buying a fanzine before realising that I didn’t actually have any money. Finally getting my chips and noticing that it was about 7:35, I made my way sharpish around the Trent End to the Brian Clough Stand to find my seat (and my dad). After realising that my upper tier tickets were not for the first row, but for the 19th (How did I mess that one up?) I found my dad and sat down.

Forgetting what it was like to be at the City Ground minutes before a game was bout to start I started to get a bit nervous, with Brighton going into this game with renewed optimism after getting a new manager. I was afraid that my presence here would actually be a jinx on the team, fears that soon disappeared after Marlon Harewood slotted home after about 8 minutes. I nearly deafened my Dad sitting next to me after the elation of seeing a Forest goal. Having last had a season ticket in 2000, I wasn’t used to the all-conquering Forest side of this season.

Noticing that time was going by far too slowly and Brighton gradually getting better, I wanted the first half to finish straight away so that the Reds could have the 15-minute break and come out refreshed. Waiting for the clock to go down, I felt my phone ring so, with the first half nearly over, I picked up the phone and made plans with a mate to go into town the next day. Hearing the crowd noise in the background, he asked me if I was watching the Newcastle v Inter Milan game, before telling him that I was actually in the crowd at the City Ground. Not knowing what the score was, he asked me, at the same time Forest had been building up their attack to produce DJ’s 18th goal of the season. With the phone still on my ear, the shouting and the cheering must have put him straight about what the score was, and in the ensuing celebrations, I cut him off!

First half over, 2-0 up and totally in control of the game, it looked as though Forest could easily get another couple of goals to finally kill off Brighton. Forest started the half much the same way the had finished the first, but Steve Coppell had obviously been telling his team how to go about breaking down Forest and they came out with renewed optimism. After the mix up with Dave Johnson, Marlon Harewood and Jack Lester all thinking they were to be subbed (which eventually saw Harewood off and Eion Jess on), Lester actually capped a good night with a powerful header which hit the keeper with such force that he could only watch it fall into the net. More celebrations and a feeling that 3-0 was enough for the Reds, even extending to the Mexican wave which went around the ground (the Brighton fans being the boring sods and sitting down throughout it).

Brighton weren’t finished and they looked to be getting more and more dangerous as the game went on, their cocky fans giving something for the A-block to shout about. The feeling that Forest were taking it easy ensured that Brighton managed to get a goal back through Steven Sidwell after lazy passing saw the ever more impressive south coast side grab a lifeline. Noticing that there wasn’t long left, conceding one goal didn’t seem a catastrophe but the Reds needed to be on their guard. What Forest didn’t need was to have Nathan Jones score a beauty of a goal to put Brighton to within a couple of minutes of getting a point!

Luckily 3-2 is how the game finished, sitting nervously on the edge of my seat was not how I planned the end of the evening but it was an entertaining affair and totally worth the £5 entrance fee. The last time I watched Forest they were languishing in the lower reaches of the first division, but after seeing how the Reds played the other night, whilst it wasn’t fantastic, it was taking them ever so closer to (dare I say it?) the Premiership!!

Well there you have it, after a previous promise of this column being twice weekly I shall make no such promise this time and in future shall write when the time is right. Of course that may mean no more from me until March next year, but there you go!

I’ll be back…….