Matt says David
Gold has been in Ken’s Café with a camera crew. Carol has declined to have her
photo taken with him and remembers the times Gold was growing up as a young
entrepreneur in Green Street. “The stories I could tell you about him…”
There’s a full
house in Ken’s: Matt, Nigel, The Gav, Michael the Whovian, and Big Joe
organizing Peterborough away tickets. My daughters Lola and Nell get in free
today as they’re Academy members and announce the sausage, egg chips and beans
plus a Coke and two slices up to par.
We’re strangely
muted in the first half in front of 31,000 fans. Forest miss a good chance when
Tudgay blazes over and have the better of the early stages. Collison forces a
good save from Lee Camp and Diop pulls up with a hamstring injury to be
replaced by Lansbury.
Faubert looks our
most dangerous crosser but we achieve little. The best moment for Lola and Nell
is when the ball gets lodged on the roof of the East Stand.
FOREST IRE
Right on 45
minutes we get a piece of luck. Lansbury’s cross hits Guy Moussi on the hand
and Noble thumps home the penalty.
We play a little
better in the second half, with Lansbury a more creative force than Diop.
Forest also
threaten and look better than their league position suggests. Green produces a
good save from a one-on-one chance and then the men in black have a corner
cleared off the line.
After 63 minutes
we get another penalty. No one at our end can see what it’s for, but the TV
cameras later reveal a clear handball. Noble strokes this one home to seemingly
make the game safe.
There’s a nice
round of applause from the home fans for Forest’s Marlon Harewood when he’s
taken off.
CAMP FIRED
It would be nice
to actually score from open play though. Camp makes a brilliant save from
Lansbury’s snap volley. Mark Noble drags a shot wide. Jack Collison fails to
shoot early enough, beats a couple of defenders and then allows Camp to pull
off a fine tip-over. You can see why we need a new striker. Baldock is taken off and Carlton Cole heads wide when well placed and has a
volley go out for a throw-in.
We’ve not played
well and had some luck but at least we see the game out. Tomkins has been
excellent at the back and wins the MOTM award, while Reid has played well too.
“I’m feeling
quietly confident,” I tell Michael the Whovian in the third minute of added
time. Immediately McGugan sweeps home a fine 20-yard volley for Forest.
Luckily the ref
blows for full time almost immediately. Jeremy Nicholas plays Bubbles but
there’s a bizarrely muted atmosphere for a team that has just reached the top
of the league for the first time this season. It’s not been pretty, and we’ve
relied on penalties and luck, but the side has at least shown a collective resolve to
get a result when playing poorly.
As Allardyce says
on The Football League Show, he’s shifted 22 players and brought in 12, so
asking for flowing football at this stage may be a bit premature, though we do surely deserve better than our slow first half performance. Even though
we need a new striker and winger we’re still top of the league, which has to be
better than expected progress after the debacle of last season. Let’s hope
Southampton drop points on Monday night.
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