Sheffield United Preview
Sun 12 Apr 2009
Boosted by Saturday's dramatic late win over Bristol City, Nottingham Forest will be in a confident frame of mind when they head up the M1 to face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane tomorrow (kick-off 3pm).
Dexter Blackstock's 90th minute winner earned Forest a 3-2 win over City that lifted Forest out of the Championship's bottom three.
The Reds have taken four points from their last two games and manager Billy Davies wants to see them maintain their momentum against high-flying United.
The Blades have had an extra day to prepare for their meeting with Forest as they played on Friday night, beating Reading 1-0.
Kevin Blackwell's men are third in the Championship, just one point behind Birmingham, and have won their last five games.
Team news
Billy Davies admitted that Forest are nursing a few bumps and bruises following the hard-fought win over City.
Robert Earnshaw is carrying a slight knee injury, while Guy Moussi and James Perch are still feeling the effects of ankle problems.
Billy Davies will check on their fitness before naming his side to face United, who have doubts surrounding their Northern Ireland international striker Jamie Ward.
He was stretchered off against Reading with an ankle injury and is facing a race against time to be fit.
He played for both
Colin Addison hit the goal-scoring trail for both Forest and United.
After joining The Reds from York City in 1961, he was their top scorer on no fewer than three occasions.
He scored 62 goals in 160 league appearances for the club before moving to Arsenal in 1966. Just over a year later he was on the move again, this time to Bramall Lane.
He scored 22 goals in 94 league appearances for United in a four-year spell in South Yorkshire.
Head to head
United's victory over Forest at The City Ground moved them to within one win of The Reds in the all-time statistics between the two sides.
Forest have recorded 42 league and cup wins over the men from Bramall Lane, while United now have 41 to their credit. Twenty seven games have finished deadlocked.
Forest's failure to capitalise on goal-scoring chances cost them as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of The Blades in December.
Robert Earnshaw and Nathan Tyson squandered golden opportunities on either side of Brian Howard's first half strike.
Earnshaw was denied by United 'keeper Paddy Kenny after being sent clear by Chris Cohen's defence-splitting pass.
And when Tyson found himself with just Kenny to beat after excellent work by Joe Garner, he poked his effort wide of the target.
Howard grabbed what proved to be United's match-winner 14 minutes before half-time, firing home from close range after Forest had failed to clear a Beattie header back across goal.
United had already gone close before Howard's crucial contribution with James Beattie forcing loan goalkeeper Lee Camp to make an outstanding reaction save after just four minutes.
Both sides struggled to fashion goal-scoring chances in the second half. The closest Forest came to forging an equaliser came courtesy of United defender Matt Kilgallon, whose forced Kenny to tip his back pass from long range over the bar.
Forest: Camp, Wilson, Morgan, Lynch, Moloney (Thornhill 64), Cohen, Perch, Anderson, Garner, Earnshaw (Davies 64), Tyson. Subs not used: Smith, Chambers, McCleary.
Sheffield United: Kenny, Halford, Naysmith, Morgan, Kilgallon, Henderson, Beattie (Ehiogu
90), Montgomery, Howard (Webber 77), Quinn, Naughton. Subs not used: Cotterill, Stokes, Jihai.
Where they currently stand
Forest - 21st
United - 3rd
Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:31 pm by Guest
