Forest Get First Away Win At Plymouth

Forest picked up their first away win of the season at Home Park this afternoon and in the process, heaped even more pressure on under fire Argyle manager Paul Sturrock. The 1-0 win came courtesy of a first half injury time strike, from defender Chris Gunter. It was his first senior goal for the club and he celebrated it suitably well.

Once again Billy Davies rung the changes. Five in total and not even a bench place for Rob Earnshaw. Little Earn is rumoured to have a hip injury, but there’s no confirmation from the club on this. That meant the enticing prospect of Dele and Dex up front. Wilson was chosen ahead of Chambers in defence and in fairness to the scapegoat defender, he performed quite well. Joel Lynch was relegated to the bench, where Chris Cohen worryingly took his place at left back. Lynch was probably still suffering the effects of his on going back problem, but there was no cause for concern in the end, as Cohen also gave a decent account of himself in the game.

Things started well for the Reds’ and Dex should have given us the lead as early as the 5th min, when his close range header was poorly struck and went over the bar. The home side though had 2 good chances go begging themselves shortly after and former Red Carl Fletcher was the first to squander a chance, when he sent an easy effort narrowly wide of the post. Seconds later, Jamie Mackie missed what was to be the best chance of the game for Argyle, when he miss hit a cross that had him clean through on goal. With the net at his mercy, he skewed his effort just wide of the post.

That was a warning shot for the Reds’ and it wasn’t heeded, because Mackie was to get the chance to make amends soon after. Mackie found himself free in the box and did well to get a shot off towards the Forest goal. Fortunately for the visitors and thanks to a combination of good keeping from Camp and the inability of Mackie to hit a cows arse with a banjo, Forest were saved again, thanks to the feet of Lee Camp in the Forest goal.

Just as you were wondering if Forest were actually playing, young Radoslaw Majewski hit a powerful dipping shot, that had Argyle keeper Larrieu beaten all ends up. As good as Maj’s shot was though, it ended up going just over the bar. In the final min of first half injury time, Forest took the lead. A neat one-two, between Gunter and Blackstock, saw Chris Gunter make the most of a slip by debutant Chester. Gunter managed to slide the ball into the corner of the net and put Forest 1-0 up at the break.

Forest started the second half well and Garner should have increased the lead, but his shot from inside the box was poorly struck and went well wide. Forest began to take control of the game for the first time in the match, but were once again lacking a killer punch in front of goal.

Midway through the half, the home side had what they thought was a penalty denied. First impressions, indicated that Cohen and Wilson had brought down Chester inside the box, but TV replays were to show that neither player made contact and that referee Mr. Woolmer had infact called it right. That was probably the point in the game, when you knew the down on their luck home side, were going to get nothing from this game.

Billy Davies had to swap Wilson for Chambers, due to injury and in the 75th min, brought on Anderson for Garner. Anderson once again looked threatening with his pace and was able to get a few decent balls into the box. Although the Reds’ were never under any real pressure in the half, they did get a scare, when Judge let loose with a rocket from 35 yards, that made Camp wake from his slumber in the Forest goal. He made the save easy enough, but it showed that the game was far from won at just 1-0.

A late surge by the home side was not enough to draw level and Forest came away with the points. It was just about deserved. Although it wasn’t the ‘battering’ that many of the players were promissing in mid week, it was nevertheless 3 points. It’s onwards and upwards from here lads and by the time Scunny comes around on Wednesday, we may even have a new defender or two to welcome into our ranks. Here’s hoping at any rate.

Nottingham Forest: Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Wes Morgan, Kelvin Wilson(Luke Chambers, 75min), Chris Cohen, Joe Garner(Paul Anderson, 73min) Paul McKenna(C), Radoslaw Majewski, Nathan Tyson, Dexter Blackstock, Dele Adebola(Guy Moussi, 88min)
Subs not used: Paul Smith, David McGoldrick, Joel Lynch, Lewis McGugan.
Scorer: Gunter 45min

Plymouth Argyle: Romain Larrieu, David Gray, Kari Arnason(James Chester 35min), Shane Lowry, Gary Sawyer, Chris Clark(Alan Judge, 64min), Karl Duguid, Carl Fletcher(C), Alan Gow(Bradley Wright-Phillips, 64min), Cillian Sheridan, Jamie Mackie.
Subs not used: Kyle Letheren, Jim Paterson, Darcy Blake, Rory Fallon.