| 17/04/2006 |  | Yeovil |
(H)
|  | Won | 2 - 1 |  |
| Reporter:
|
Simon Hough |
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| The highest attendance of the season witnessed Forest continue their
amazing winning streak against a battling Yeovil side badly in need of
points themselves. The total of 28,193 (boosted by Kids For A Quid) was
the forth highest in the country and shows the potential support for a
successful side.
According to Radio Nottingham, in each of the past 5 weeks only 2 of the top 8 have won. One of those teams has been us in each case. Just shows the reliance we've had on others to fall away to have made this rapid rise up the table. Not that this should take anything away from our achievement. We named an unchanged side with Thompson keeping his place in midfield with Perch and Southall continuing on the bench. For only the second time under Charlie & Frank, we had to come back from going a goal behind. Breckin conceded a needless free kick by barging Jevons when Morgan had the situation under control. Pedersen spent ages on the post lining up the wall and Jevons took a quick shot into the empty goal. Both keeper and defence should have been more alive to this happening. Forest didn't panic and continued to attack in search of an equaliser. We forced numerous corners and free kicks which brought us increasingly closer to scoring. In the end, the usual near post routine from Clingan to Breckin worked a treat to give their keeper no chance. The service from Commons/Clingan/Southall is very finely tuned and we look like scoring from every set piece at the moment. A real advantage in this division and which makes the most of the height advantage from Morgan/Breckin/Grant Holt/Bennett etc. Forest had numerous other chances in the 1st half whilst Yeovil very rarely threatened. Free headers by Grant Holt and Commons just past each post should really have been taken. The second half started with Forest continuing to attack. A surging run from Gary Holt found Tyson who shot disappointingly over the bar with his right foot. The game changed when Clingan was injured in a challenge and had to be replaced by Southall. His first 3 contributions showed why he should be one of the first names in the team. Firstly, he beat a couple of men to cross from the right. Next, he met Common's cross from the left with a clever flicked header just past the post. Then, his close range header, after Tyson's shot was saved, put us 2-1 ahead. His ability to create and score goals is something no other midfielder is able to do consistently at the moment. Shortly after, Tyson skipped down the right, pulled the ball back to Gary Holt who fired narrowly over the bar. Yeovil's only real chance followed a mistake from Breckin. A cross from the right, missed the captain as he slipped. Fortunately, Jevons shot first-time over the bar with only Pedersen to beat. Grant Holt then won the ball in midfield, played the ball out to Commons and continued his run into the area. The pin-point cross found Holt who headed narrowly over the bar. The 4 minutes of injury time passed without too much trouble and another 3 points pushing us up the table. As before, all the other results were celebrated both on and off the pitch. Even though he's been very impressive in the past few weeks, Gary Holt continues to improve. The only word to describe today's performance was immense. Completely dominated the midfield and supported both defence and attack in the way that he used to for Norwich. One of the best performances in a red shirt this season and another MOTM display. The other Holt, Grant, was a close second with yet another all-action display. All that was missing was a goal to round off as hard-working a display as you could expect to see from a centre forward. Unfortunately, the 'rough diamond' showed he stills need polishing with a couple of air-shots when he really should have done better. Linked up very well with Commons and Tyson and a real team player. Tyson worked hard alongside him but it wasn't really his day. The combination of Grant Holt's strength and Tyson's pace makes their partnership very effective. Praise due to John Thompson for getting on with the 'dirty work' and allowing Holt to contribute in a positive fashion. Still a useful squad player which every team needs. Looks much comfortable in midfield after being messed about during the Megson era. The defence continues to look solid. Curtis played well as right back/winger and providing good service to the forwards until Southall's arrival provided the natural width. Great to see Southall back on the right wing looking lively, making clever runs and of course, scoring goals! Let's have him back in the side as we need more creativity at home and sometimes struggle for ideas down the right hand side. You would never want to see any of your own players injured but I doubt Southall would have made an appearance if Clingan hadn't been limping. These things are just going for us at the moment. Pedersen still fails to convince me after flapping at a rare Yeovil attack and his lack on concentration for their goal. Not to mention his poor kicking. Needs to communicate better with Morgan and Breckin in front of him. Yet another great team performance and good to see Forest accept the Yeovil goal without panicking and just carry on attacking. Would be nice to finish some of the flowing moves we put together but that killer touch just evaded us today. We have a tendency to rely on set pieces for goals but long may this continue to get us out of this division. |
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| Forest Man-of-the-Match: | Gary Holt | |||||
