lost that loving feeling - Forest 2 Hartlepool 0 (15/10/05)

Forest, having produced a limp performance last week at Southend, were aiming to get back on track with victory at home to lowly Hartlepool. On paper the game was a home banker, the Reds having won three out of the last four at the City Ground and with Hartlepool struggling it proved to be a comfortable win in the end.

In fact the scoreline didn’t really do the game justice, as Forest created numerous chances and should have been at least three up before Eugen Bopp’s stoppage time penalty had doubled the lead Gareth Taylor had opened up in the first half.

The game started brightly, with Forest knocking the ball around well and before long they had created a couple of half chances that fell to Jack Lester. However, it didn’t take long before the stultifying 4-5-1 formation of the visitors began to put a strangle on the game and Hartlepool’s long ball tactics made for a period of play that verged on tedium. Fortunately Forest have a bit of guile these days and the decision to make Commons and Southall swap wings mid-way through the half opened the game up again.

It was neither who put in the lovely left-wing cross from which Gareth Taylor cleverly and neatly volleyed home however. It was the latest victim of the City Ground boo-boys, David Frio, who clipped in a delightful cross into Taylor’s path. Having now scored twice in 2 games at home he is answering his critics in the best possible way although they were quick to have a pop when he misjudged the ball coming to him in a goalmouth scramble and succeeded only in clattering into the keeper, earning himself a yellow-card.

The goal came after half-an-hour and ought to have been the catalyst for more confidence to flow from the Reds. Unfortunately the new ball-boy system, in which there aren’t any at all, didn’t allow any sort of flow to the game whatsoever. On far too many occasions Konstantopoulos, in the Hartlepool goal, was left to amble out to the touchline to collect the ball for goal-kicks. The game petered out slowly into half-time and it was thanks to the complaints from Tranmere Rovers that the City Ground support had to endure long periods of ball collection, rather than ball possession.

Forest continued to dominate the game in the second half, right up until Michael Nelson left Jack Lester in a heap on the floor following an off the ball incident. The Linesman was quick to signal foul play and Nelson was red-carded, much to the annoyance of the Hartlepool bench. A number of whom had to be escorted out of Gary Megson’s technical area. The sending-off, however, galvanised the opposition and they went on to create their first chances of the match, coming close to equalising and taking an undeserved share of the points.

It was two substitutions from Megson that swung the game back into Forest’s favour. Johnson replaced Jack Lester and Eugen Bopp came on for Nicky Southall. Both were effective in creating a number of chances for the Reds, only to see the best of them spurned by Frio and Taylor. Bopp, in particular, looked a class apart and the sight of him sliding into two 50-50 challenges in quick succession, winning both, brought huge cheers from the fans and will have pleased Megson too.

He was rewarded in stoppage time with a chance to score from the spot. Johnson had burst into the box before being brought down and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. The penalty was converted coolly and Forest were able to celebrate three well deserved points, although the result should have been confirmed by a much larger scoreline.

The win puts the Reds up to eighth place in the league, just one point off the play-off places and last week’s defeat at the league leaders looks like being only a blip. Forest still lack a cutting edge but they are getting there slowly. Next up is a trip to Yeovil; win there and they are definitely back on track.