We are top of the league (just)…

West Ham 2 Nottingham Forest 1

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.

It's Vic there!

West Ham 3 Notts Forest 2 (FA Cup)

Texts arrive announcing that it’s candlelight dining in Ken’s Café as there’s a power cut. The O’Brien clan from Essex, whom I’m meant to be meeting, are having a Maldon cockney knees-up and it’s the Spirit of the Blitz revisited, minus a special breakfast for young Scott.

It’s a war zone on the tubes too. For yet another game the tubes are down and then the Jubilee lines is closed because of a faulty train. So rather than brave 20,000 Hammers fans trying to get on the replacement rail service bus it’s a long march from Stratford down Upton Lane and Plashett Road.

1-0 UP, 2-1 DOWN
I just make the kick off and we score after four minutes. Jacobsen’s short corner finds Noble who skies a shot wide of goal only for Victor Obinna to react well and deflect it into the net. That’s shut up the Forest fans that occupy the whole of the Centenary stand.

We’re playing a core of first-teamers Jacobsen (back at last), Green, Piquionne, Noble and Obinna plus the squad players.

“That Dele Adebola is the ultimate journeyman striker. He’s useless, if he scores I’m giving up West Ham,” announces Matt.

Sure enough, Forest scythe through our right flank, Gabbidon and Reid are slow to react and Adebola prods the ball home. Taking his cue from Ian Holloway threatening to resign if Blackpool are fined for fielding a weakened side and then staying put, Matt remains resolutely in his seat.

It gets worse. Piquionne heads a corner towards his own net, Green tips the ball up and McGoldrick heads home. How could Nigel be missing this for a mini-break in New York?

WONDER GOAL?
We’re left to reflect on our loss to Birmingham. Matt and Lisa were the only fans in the Lucky Pub so clearly here was no quorum for it to exert its power. Plus his Dukla Prague away kit only works at live games and Fraser forgot to watch at home while wearing his red shoes.

Forest have been the better team since going behind. But now Victor’s racing down the right. He sends in a high hopeful cross that amazingly wafts over Campo and into the net. Brilliant!

Did he see Camp off his line? Erm, no, he later admits that it was a cross. Half-time and it’s 2-2.

ESCAPE TO VICTORY
For once we play better after the break. Has Grant actually said something decent to the lads? Sears has a shot tipped over and then Winston Reid is obviously pushed in the box and Obinna dispatches the penalty.

He celebrates his hat-trick with an understated quadruple somersault. If Peter Walton was reffing he’d probably send him off for gratuitous somersaulting.

For the rest of game Camp (could he make a double entendre side with Scheidt, Shittu, Doudou, Bent, Dicks and Cox?) atones for Victor’s second by saving excellently from fierce Piquionne and Barrera drives. Sears has a good game behind the front two, but hesitates twice when through and Camp saves well again in a one-on-one with Piq.

Amazingly we see out the four minutes of added time without too much trouble.

You wait all these years for a cup run and then two come along when you should be concentrating on staying up.

The transport-free mobs in the street resemble the scenes in Cairo, although we opt for a pint of Ruddles in the Captain’s Cabin rather than revolution. The Gav arrives, we discover we’ve drawn Burnley at home, we’ve passed on signing Andy Gray (still slimmer than Benni) up front and Matt has a question.

Matt asks us what would have happened on Tuesday for the first time in 40 years had the Blackpool game not been changed to Wednesday.

“It would have been a 7.30 kick-off,” he announces. “Not a lot of people know that.”

Only now it’s an 8pm ko and yet another save our season game… And Matt has another factoid: “The last time we beat Forest 3-2 in the FA Cup we got relegated.” Drat.