LFL: FOREST

This was another battling performance and a great win. We’re in the top three. Enjoy!

BEFORE

I think last Sunday's draw was a great result and demonstrated our new resilience as even with ten men for the bulk of the game we held our own. I also think that we're going to get something from today's match. Diarra is going to be absent till December unfortunately so Rigg will probably be starting again and will be raring to go after having to be sacrificed on Sunday. Reinildo will be absent and with O'Nien fit again he may make an appearance at some stage. I don't know why Forest got rid of Espirito Santo but their recent form hasn't been good with only two points from their last four league matches. Igor Jesus will be a real threat as he's got four goals already this season but our back four will be a big challenge for him too. I didn't realise till late last night that the game will be played at 5.30 and that means I'll be able to watch it on TV with a load of other London Branch members. Match prediction: 1-1 and I'd be more than happy with that.

I got the team-news on the way to the bar and, as expected, Rigg was starting while Masuaku was in for Reinildo. O’Nien was on the bench. Jesus was on the bench for them and that suited me. Jesus was on the bench? Sounds like a country and western song. Anyway, there were a number of the Faithful in the bar and the mood was bright as we waited for the match to start.

THE GAME

We were playing in our blue away kit and we started well, winning a corner in the second minute. It came to nothing but we kept up the pressure for a short while. Forest started to put some pressure on by the seventh minute but a cross from Anderson was miles wide. Next thing I thought we’d taken the lead when Isidor got their back line into sixes and sevens before spinning and sending in a low shot that was narrowly wide of the left post. A few Forest players were diving all over the place but referee Tony Harrington wasn’t having any of it. Williams was looking threatening down their right and he won their first corner but we got it clear. Forest had been having most of the possession and we conceded a second corner in the twenty-second. It resulted in a Wood header going over the bar. 

We continued to be on the receiving end but our defence were looking cool under pressure. A Wood back-header was well wide in the twenty-seventh and shortly afterwards we were awarded a free-kick in a tasty spot not far from their box. Forest got it away and it resulted in a throw to them. Masuaku became the first player to be booked when he pounced on Williams, giving them a free-kick in a dangerous area, but Roefs plucked it from the air and we were safe. Just after the half-hour mark we started to fight back more and Sadiki was looking a threat down our left. Dominguez was yellow-carded after hitting the deck himself and from Xhaka’s free-kick Alderete outpaced their defence down our left before stooping to head it home via a deflection off goalie Sels. The bar erupted while on the screen Milenkovic was also booked for mouthing off. There was a VAR check but the goal stood and we celebrated once more. (I love VAR, for now at any rate.) Forest were putting the pressure on again as two minutes of added-time were announced and we survived another corner just before the half-time whistle went. 

Dominguez had been subbed by Gibbs-White, which was  probably a wise move. We conceded a corner two minutes in but Roefs sucked it into his arms as if by magnetism. We quickly broke and had a few snap shots ourselves. Williams was also booked after bringing down Sadiki and the free-kick led to a corner from which we had a rare shot on target. I don’t think Forest had one yet. We really started to turn the screw and I could feel a goal coming. I could see O’Nien warming up, though there was no need to change anything yet. Actually we made a couple of changes not long afterwards in the fifty-ninth, bringing on Traore and Geertruida for Rigg and Masuaku. Forest also made two changes as Jesus and Hudson-Odoi came on for Ndoye and McAtee. Forest won a corner in the sixty-fourth and Gibbs-White attempted an overhead kick that went well wide. Very soon they had another corner following a good low shot from Anderson and we hoofed that one clear. Anderson hit a shot just over the bar and Roefs was there to block a low effort from Bakwa.

As we entered the final quarter things were getting hectic and both sides were going at it like hammer and tongs. With twenty minutes on the clock Forest really started to pile the pressure on but we continued to defend well and of course there was always Roefs to make the final block. Five minutes later there was a great shout in the bar as we saw Ballard coming on, for Le Fee. I thought Mukiele had joined the yellow-card club but maybe he was let off. Ten minutes to go and the relentless pressure continued with Forest switching the ball quickly from wing to wing. We enjoyed some respite in the eighty-second when we were awarded a free-kick near their box that also resulted in a booking for Anderson. It didn’t come to anything but that clock was ticking away nicely. Brobbey replaced Isidor in the eighty-fifth and he’d give them something to think about. We’d taken the sting out of the game for a while but it wasn’t over by any means. In the eighty-eighth we won another corner and it immediately led to another on the other side. For one horrendous moment I thought there was going to be eleven minutes of added-time but they were only taking their number 11 Wood off. There were in fact six minutes. Half-way through added-time the telly in the bar went on the blink so we survived on phone footage till normal service was resumed. It soon ended 1-0 and a chant of “Haway the Lads haway!” broke out in the bar.

A well earned victory. Our first win, and goal, on the road for the lads this season.