Forest were held to their third Home draw of the season by a battling Stockport side who can count themselves unfortunate after twice hitting the woodwork.
The first real chance of the match fell to the Reds, an outrageous chip by Ian Wright from all of 35 yards that Nash, although taken a little by surprise , still managed to save quite comfortably. This was just one more example of Wright's vision, and another reason why Platt should be doing all he can to extend Wright's stay at The City Ground.
Just 3 minutes later and the Reds were behind. Crossley and the entire Forest defence failed to deal with a high cross into the box for the umpteenth time this season and D'Jaffo sent a looping header into the back of the net.
Forest came up with perfect response and levelled the scoreline within 15 seconds. Great work by Freedman on the right saw him force his way past two defenders and he delivered a perfectly weighted cross to the back post where Wright placed his header superbly past Nash, giving the keeper no chance at all.
From this point on, Forest controlled the half and several good chances fell to Freedman, but his usually good touch seemed to have deserted him tonight and his control continually let him down.
On the stroke of half time Forest thought they had won a penalty, as another good move involving Rogers and Bart-Williams saw Freedman arriving in the box, only to be bowled over, but the referee waved away Forest's appeals.
At the start of the second half Forest continued to dominate for the first quarter of an hour without really creating any clear cut chances, but then appeared to fall away as County took command. They thought they had taken the lead on the hour when a 40 yard shot by Cooper left Crossley stranded but ricocheted off the foot of the post.
Into the last 15 minutes and the Reds picked up the pace again as they went in search of the winner. A terrific 60 yard run by Prutton ended when he scuffed his shot past the post. Defending suddenly seemed the last thing in the minds of the Forest players, and they were leaving huge holes at the back. Stockport again thought they had snatched all 3 points on 86 minutes when Cooper unleashed another effort that rattled the angle of post and bar with Crossley no where.
In the dying seconds came Forests best chance to win the game. A huge clearance by Crossley was controlled superbly by Freedman and he was in the clear with just Nash to beat. Maybe he just had too much time to think about it, because he blasted the ball way over the bar from 8 yards, leaving him standing with his head in his hands in disbelief. He wasn't alone. Ian Wright had been available for the square pass across an empty goalmouth, but you can't blame Freedman for taking the shot, he just should have done so much better. However, it would have been hard on Stockport had they lost this match, but I for one wouldn't have cared.
