Tuesday 27th January 2009

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday -- Coca Cola Championship

C'mon you Reds!!!!

err,... sorry - got a bit carried away there!!

Hope you get chance to see Nathan Tyson's goal on t'telly... what a pass from Gareth McLeary!! Tyson never broke stride before hammering the ball past Lee Grant in the Owls net... what a goal to bring up our 200th of the season!!

Report from Forest website

Our first visit of the season to the City Ground - I had managed to secure our Company Season Tickets for the game. We set off from our Hucknall base at 6:45pm, safe in the knowledge that even on match days we can get to the ground in 45 minutes.....WRONG! We were not prepared for the traffic we encountered - blimey, what a mess the streets of Nottingham can be at times..

Kev is a brilliant town driver, and knows the route by heart and is superb at taking every opportunity to dodge and weave offered by others - but even his skills were not enough on this occasion. We were still sat on Trent Bridge when the game kicked off, but at least we had Radio Nottingham to keep us informed. I can only remember clearly one occasion when I missed a kick off - Stockport v Mansfield in August 2002 - supporters coach was late !! Anyway, we eventually parked up in the Rushcliffe Civic Centre ( corporate!) and rushed to the Legends Bar (corporate) - the staff were all having their tea!! But we were warmly welcomed and handed a programme and team sheet ( nice!!) before making our way to our seats.

Our block of 4 seats is directly behing the Directors' Box and at 7:55pm they were the only ones still unoccupied....still - we were there and apparently hadn't missed too much action.

Bad defending from a corner cost Forest dearly when Jermaine Johnson tapped in from a Richard Wood knock down to the delight of the massed hoards of Wednesday fans in the Bridgford End lower tier. Francis Jeffers then hacked Joe Heath down and got a richly desreved straight red - the challenge was made in front of the East Stand, but we, on the opposite side of the ground, all cringed as the player connected with the Forest left back. Then came the Tyson goal from the sublime pass from McLeary H-T 1-1

Down to the Legends Bar for a coffee and biscuits ( corporate!) --coffee as black as yer hat -- lovely 9/10 !!

Back out for the second half with the Reds kicking towards the Trent End. When Luke Chambers nodded home Loius McGugan's corner to give the home team the lead, the home fans went absolutely crackers. The Owls fans were stunned into silence, but Forest did give them some hope by failing to consolidate their lead and ended up hanging on against the 10 men..... Finished 2-1 to the Reds.

A race to the car, and Kev's driving skills once again came to the fore, nudging in, cajoling and bullying our way out of the carpark back onto London Road - only to get stuck in the "DANCING ON ICE" traffic. The NIA had just unloaded 14 million people onto the streets of Nottingham - 10 million of whom were picked up by waiting cars , cars that blocked a complete lane! Where are the traffic cops when you need them?

Arrived back home at 10:45pm. One hour & 10 minutes to travel the 7 miles to the CG, and a good hour to get back...thank God we can't have the Company season tickets again this season....!!

Enjoyed the experience though - and the atmosphere was superb -- I've never heard so much bloody noise - both sets of fans were in full cry throughout the game...

Attendance 22618

Admission -- corporate!

Coffee - free 9/10

Programme - free

Best Red - Gareth McLeary

Saturday - new ground for us - we're off up the M1 to see Pinxton at home to Rolls Royce Leisure.