Royals Punish Reds’ For First Half No Show

Billy Davies` Nottingham Forest were given a bloody nose at the City Ground last night and duly punished for a first half performance, that can at best be described as lazy and sloppy. Despite a much improved and spirited fight back in the second half, it was the visitors who would deservedly walk away with the points and jump two places ahead of their hosts in the Championship table.

A growing injury list meant that Davies opted to go with Dan Harding at left back, as the replacement for captain Chris Cohen, now out for the season with damaged cruciate ligaments. On the evidence of this performance, Harding will have to make some drastic improvements to his own game to fill the void left by the captains absence. The ever impressive Andy Reid returned to the squad following his recent injury, but had to be content with a place on the bench. It was largely thanks to his introduction at the start of the second half, that Forest were not beaten by a greater margin.

Former Reds` Garath McCleary and Chris Gunter were on show and it was McCleary who proved from the start that he was more than up for the game against his old pals. Within the openning few minutes, he let rip with a long range shot, but fortunately his effort was wide of the target and failed to trouble Darlow in the Forest goal.

With barely 8 minutes on the clock, McCleary demonstrated the qualities, that showed precisely why so many believe he should never have been allowed to leave the club. He picked the ball up out wide and ran at Eric Lichaj with pace. He beat his man with ease and was able to deliver a pinpoint cross , that landed at the feet of an unmarked Pavel Progrebnyak. The Russian striker then had the simplest of tasks in tapping the ball home.

To say Forest hadn`t turned up would be an understatement and they found themselves two down and deservedly so only 5 minutes later. A Danny Guthrie corner was well met by the diving head of Kaspers Gorkss, who sent the ball flying past the on looking Reds` defence.

After half an hour it was beginning to look like the home side could be on the wrong end of a rout, but somehow they managed to weather the storm and even put some pressure on an otherwise untroubled Royals defence. Henri Lansbury almost pulled a goal back and get us back in it, but he saw his delightful swerving shot just miss the far post by a matter of inches.

Five minutes before the break and the Reds` were indeed back in it. Some neat passing between midfield and attack, ended with Mackie putting a ball through to Simon Cox who was able to slot the ball home for his third goal in as many games. Cox celebrated the goal by running to the touchline, where he was given the injured captains shirt to raise aloft in tribute to the stricken hero. 2-1 at the break was a flattering scoreline for the home side who had been dreadful for most of the half.

The first half mauling served up by the visitors demanded that changes had to be made and in fairness to the manager he did just that. Off went Majewski and Paterson and on came Reid and Henderson. The introduction of these two at the restart was instrumental in an improved second half showing from the lads and both played a part when Mackie almost drew the sides level. Mackie was clear on goal and let loose with a shot that had McCarthy well beaten in the Reading goal. However, the home crowd could only gasp in disbelief as the goal bound shot conspired to rebound off the post.

The hard work and endeavors of Reid and Henderson was to reap its reward on the hour mark, when Reid played a ball through to Cox. The Irishman was able to find Henderson, who hit his shot passed McCarthy and draw the scores level. Forest were now well on top and looking good to go on and finish the job, but fair play to the visitors who just wouldn’t lie down.

Forest may well have been on top, but their search for that 3rd goal left them exposed at the back. The Royals made the most of yet more slack defending by the home side, when on 74 minutes Obita smashed the ball into the roof of the Forest net to give them a 3-2 lead. In the latter stages of the game referee Stuart Attwell issued a second yellow card of the game to Chris Gunter. But even with the visitors down to 10 men, there was no way back for the Reds`.

The defeat sees us clinging on to 6th place, with a real possibility of falling further if other weekend results go against us. These are testing times for Mr. Davies, in a season where much is expected of him and certainly not one where a being out of the top 6 will be seen as acceptable.