Nottingham Forest 3 v 2 Bristol City
Sat 11 Apr 2009
Nottingham Forest produced a superb comeback to take all three points against Bristol City and finish the day out of the relegation zone.
It was a tense, open first 45 minutes with both sides looking threatening going forward. Bristol City took the lead but the half ended on level terms after Forest fought back well to deserve the equalizer.
It was City again that went ahead in a frantic second half, but two late goals from Forest saw them take the points for a crucial victory.
Forest were straight on the attack and had a shot on target in the first minute when Robert Earnshaw crossed to Chris Cohen, but his effort was fairly easy for Adriano Basso to save.
And Forest could have taken the lead in the second minute from a free kick wide on the left, half way inside the City half. It was excellent delivery from Cohen with the ball finding Dexter Blackstock whose header was only just wide.
Birmingham missed an opportunity when Cole Skuse crossed from the left to Michael McIndoe inside the box but Iain Turner confidently watched the ball go wide of the post.
City took the lead in the 13th minute following their second corner in quick succession. Turner challenged for the ball with Nicky Maynard and as the Forest keeper went down the ball got away from him, leaving Ivan Sproule to run the bobbling ball over the line.
After a good period of pressure by Forest as they fought to get one back it was City who had the next chance when Jamie McCombe headed the ball back across the face of goal and Turner did well to stretch and make the save.
Forest's determination paid off with an equalizer just after the half hour mark. Blackstock controlled the ball on his chest and played it through to Earnshaw who managed to get past McCombe, who is twice his size and send the ball past Basso into the bottom corner of the net.
And Chris Gunter almost made it two after he carried the ball into the D and curled a powerful shot past Basso's left post.
It was a scrappy final few minutes as both sides tried to get a winner before the half time break.
Forest came close to a goal in the opening minute of the second half after winning a free kick wide on the right. Cohen whipped the ball in to the near post, Basso couldn't get on it but neither could Joel Lynch and the ball ended up trickling past the post.
With Forest again pushing forward, Paul Anderson tried to catch the City keeper out with a long-range effort and he was only just wide.
There was a frantic pace to the game as both sides looked hungry for a goal.
City came close when Iain Turner came out to the edge of his box to block the ball but, with Lynch going for it as well and going down injured, the ball broke for Ivan Sproule and with the Forest keeper well off his line Kelvin Wilson did well to make the save.
Moussi was replaced by Garath McCleary, who should have done better with two chances soon after coming on. First he ran straight into a City defender and then sent the ball flying past the post from the left instead of crossing the ball.
As City started to look the more threatening side, Turner denied City substitute Gavin Williams with a good save at the left post.
And they were in front soon after when McAllister got the ball forward and Turner came out but didn't get there in time and Dele Adebola was able to head home into an empty net.
City were down to ten men when McAllister picked up his second yellow card with eight minutes of the game remaining.
And Forest were straight back on level terms from the resulting free kick wide on the right. Substitute Lewis McGugan took the free kick and found another substitute Joe Garner who put the ball away at the near post.
McCleary did well to win the ball half way and kept control well to run to the edge of the box where he sent the ball forward for Blackstock but Bradley Orr was able to block it for a corner.
A great attempt at a long range shot by Garner saw Forest with another chance but Basso was in the right place to gather the ball in his arms.
And then in the 90th minute Forest took the lead for the first time in the game with a goal from Blackstock on his home debut. He headed forward, the attempted clearance came back to him and he sent a rocket of a ball into the back of the net and was booked for celebrating.
With four minutes of stoppage time to get through tension was high as City fought back. But then Forest took control again and when Blackstock sent the ball across the box McCleary forced another save from Basso.
Fans, players and management alike celebrated when the final whistle went as if they had just been promoted.
Nottingham Forest: Iain Turner, Chris Gunter, Kelvin Wilson, Wes Morgan, Joel Lynch, Chris Cohen, James Perch(C)(Lewis McGugan 79min), Paul Anderson, Guy Moussi(Garath McCleary 60min), Robert Earnshaw(Joe Garner 71min), Dexter Blackstock
Subs not used: Paul Smith, Luke Chambers,
Bookings:Blackstock 89min, Garner 90+4min
Scorers: Earnshaw 32min, Garner 83min, Blackstock 89min
Bristol City: Adriano Basso, Bradley Orr, Jamie McAllister, Liam Fontaine(Izzy Iriekpen 45minHT), Jamie McCombe (C), Nicky Maynard, Michael McIndoe, Cole Skuse(Marvin Elliott, 65min, Dele Adebola, Ivan Sproule, Lee Johnson(Gavin Williams 65min)
Subs not used: Stern John, Stephen Henderson(GK),
Bookings: McAllister 46min,82min RED Card Sproule 62min
Scorer: Sproule 14min, Adebola 77min, Orr 85min
Referee: C Webster
Attendance: 22,7776 Away attn: 1,126
Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:31 pm by Guest
