Forest 1 Bradford City 0
29/10/05 | Match Report by Bill Iliffe
The vultures have been circling around Gary Megson for a while now, for it has been tough recently on Trentside. Exit in the LDV Vans Trophy to a side not even in the football league was swiftly followed by a 3-0 hammering at Yeovil and news that Forest had drawn Weymouth in the 1st round of the FA Cup. Have the Reds ever sunk so low? Forest were making the headlines for all the wrong reasons once more and the national press were enjoying the slide. Megson’s decision to allow two fans into the dressing room after the Yeovil game was being spoken of as the act of a man who has no more ideas left. Had he lost the dressing room? It could have become so much worse on Saturday.
Fortunately for Megson the City Ground has become a bit of a fortress these days. Five out of eight league games had been won there, giving the Reds the second best home record in the league. Bradford were the visitors this time round and their ageing, ill-tempered team was sent back up north with no points and few complaints. David Johnson’s 50th goal for Forest secured another home win, the sixth from nine now.
For the first 30 minutes Forest were delightful. A quick tempo was evident and some good passing made Bradford, who are still above Forest despite this defeat, look average at best. Eugen Bopp, given his first league start in the absence of Kris Commons, showed some sublime ball skills and should have opened the scoring having been put through by the improving Nicky Eaden. His lob went over and the score remained 0-0 but it didn’t take Forest long to take the lead. Johnson placing the ball past the keeper from 12 yards as the static Bradford defence looked on helplessly.
The rest of the half then petered out slowly, with the only performances of note coming from referee Grant Hegley, who appeared to love the sound of his whistle, and his assistant, who flagged Steve Claridge offside on numerous occasions. Claridge was eventually booked for his protestations, much to the delight of the crowd, and was joined by a number of his teammates following some crude challenges.
Forest now needed to push on in the second half and hammer home their obvious superiority. It didn’t happen. Although there were other chances for the Reds to increase the lead, Jack Lester being the guiltiest party, missing a simple chance when he’d done the hard work in robbing the defender of the ball. It was a similar incident which lead to Bradford being reduced to ten men (they always looked like they would have someone sent-off at some point) with seven minutes to go. Lester again robbed the defender, Holloway, who cynically stopped him before he could bear down on goal.
If it appears that I’ve missed out reporting on a large part of the second half it is because, simply, nothing really happened. The game had become even but Forest looked comfortable all along. Until the last minute that is. A superb save by the returning Paul Gerrard secured the three points. In tipping a Dean Windass free-kick around the post Gerrard showed his class and it is hard to see how Megson could drop him again now Russell Hoult has returned to West Brom.
The final whistle came as something of a relief to the home fans. Something that shouldn’t really have been necessary given Forest’s early domination and the chances they created. Honourable mentions must go to Nicky Eaden and Gary Holt, who both had their best games since joining. James Perch was, once again, excellent and Eugen Bopp showed his obvious talents. Surely his time has come to cement a place in the side. Commons is out for the next two months and Forest desperatley need another creative spark, Bopp could be the man to provide it.
However, it is not this home game by which the Red’s progress will be judged. Forest, quite clearly, must improve on their travels if they are to challenge this season. And score more goals. Gary Megson is trying to bring in a new striker but looks to have been thwarted in his attempts so far. Nathan Tyson, a striker at League 2’s Wycombe, has apparently turned Forest down. Just when you thought our plight couldn’t become any more embarrassing.