Nottingham Forest 5 City 1
Before the season kicked off both the Foxes and Nottingham Forest would have happily settled for a comfortable mid-table position come early December however on the morning of this game, Leicester sat in third place and Forest in fourth making this a potentially mouth watering match. That’s what the game was meant to be like…
In the build up there was the reminder of it being the first Forest-City league match for a few years added to the many connections between the local rivals. The Forest manager and assistant are ex-Leicester players Billy Davies and David Kelly respectably. Nigel Pearson hails from Nottingham and Forest midfielder Paul Anderson is from Melton Mowbray, coming through the Liverpool youth set up before he joined Forest in the summer on a permanent basis.
Most City fans were anticipating a tight derby between two strong Championship teams however pre-match during the week some supporters had been fearing what Forest's strong attacking force would do to us Foxes should the team fail to perform on the day. This fear was well founded and from very early on Forest made their attacking intentions plain to see. They were going for goals and goals they were going to get!
Wayne Brown has been a rock at the heart of the city defence this season and after around ten mins of the match he was forced to make a super headed clearance from a cross into the city box. Forest had built up a nice head of steam by this point and on 12 minutes the pace of Robert Earnshaw in the Forest attack told, cutting in from the right he took on the defence and placed the ball home with a neat finish. 1-0 and totally deserved, the Foxes were not coping with the reds pace and directness, worrying times indeed…
City pushed forward and good play between Captain Matt Oakley and left back Bruno Berner led to a shot blocked by the Forest rearguard before Forest were attacking City again and Dexter Blackstock had a good effort well saved by the superb Chris Weale in the city goal. Minutes later and Melton Mowbray based Paul Anderson was almost clean through on goal and looked almost destined to score until Chris Weale pulled off another fine block which Robbie Nielsen was able to clear from danger.
Nigel Pearson decided to make the first change of personnel, bringing on Steve Howard for Yann Kermorgant in the 28th minute. In the 32nd minute things goal wise got worse when a corner into the box caused panic in the city ranks before Robert Earnshaw bagged his second goal of the game from close range on the right side of Chris Weale's Foxes goal. 2-0 and it seemed that it was going to be an ominous afternoon Trentside for the City team on this visit.
In the 36th minute the Foxes decided to make another change bringing on Lloyd Dyer to add some width to our play, replacing Matt Fryatt. The change seemed to help us get a hold of the game for a period and Matt Oakley and Lloyd Dyer were able to get some joy down the wings, however everything we could muster up to Martyn Waghorn and big Stevie Howard was being swallowed up by the Forest defence.
City really needed half-time to re-group and to assess the way they should approach the rest of the game because Forest looked strong and quick, and full of ideas. At half time I thought we were lucky to be only two goals down and maybe a much improved second-half showing could see us getting back into the contest and maybe, just maybe taking a point.
Those dreams of a 2-2 draw were firmly ended four minutes into the second half when the brilliant Robert Earnshaw ran though what seemed the middle of our half of the pitch and beat everyone from our team that he came up against before completing his hat-trick with a fine finish. At 3-0 and with forty minutes to play I was quite worried, we could not cope with Nottingham Forest whatsoever, they are strong, quick and seemed to know where to hurt us. The Forest fans sang 'We are too good for you, we are too good for you' and I had to admit to myself that on the day it was so true, the reds really wanted it and it was showing.
In the 54th minute and Forest were attacking at pace again, this time Paul Anderson was on the left wing and as he cut in to the box he was able to guide a fine low curling shot inside the far post well out of Chris Weale's goal. 4-0 and a feeling of disbelief engulfed myself and probably all the city fans. How could we be losing like this? Were Forest really this good or were we allowing them to be this good. Questions Nigel Pearson will be asking in the days between this game and prior to the Bristol City match on Tuesday night.
On 63 minutes Michael Morrison came on for Robbie Nielson for city's final change of the afternoon. Then on 64 minutes City got what proved to be a consolation goal when a Richie Wellens shot was charged down hitting a Forest hand and the referee gave a penalty to City. Martyn Waghorn stepped up to take the kick, smashing it into the roof of the Forest net to put us onto the scoresheet at 4-1. The goal gave city a little bit of confidence to play their own passing game and attack Forest for a time. Lloyd Dyer made some impressive runs but unfortunately for city we were unable to test their keeper with any shots on goal.
In the 76th minute Forest came forward and once more they got yet another goal when a shot from Gareth McCleary was blocked by Chris Weale and Dele Adebola wrapped up the 5-1 win for Nottingham Forest with a simple finish on the rebound. By this point a lot of city fans had accepted the defeat and the hope was that this would be the last goal conceded of the game, as any more Forest goals would really hurt the team's confidence going into the busy Christmas period.
And so it was 5-1 that it ended, City didn't really look like adding a second goal and Forest were full value for the five that they scored. In truth and it isn't easy to admit but six or seven goals Forest goals on the day wouldn't have flattered their fine display.
Forest's strong performance was just as good as the West Brom team's 2-1 win at the Walkers last month. Maybe this was the reality check the Foxes needed?.. We shall see in the weeks and months ahead. However it is not nice seeing our beloved team lose, let alone to our nearest and fiercest rivals Nottingham Forest. Maybe, just maybe the rematch at the Walkers Stadium in February 2010 will be closer?… I hope it is…
Leicester City: Weale, Nielson (Morrison, 63), Brown, Hobbs, Berner, Oakley, King, Wellens, Kermorgant (Howard, 28), Fryatt (Dyer, 36), Waghorn
Nottm Forest: Camp, Gunter, Morgan, Wilson, Shorey, Anderson (McCleary, 70), McKenna, Majewski (Tyson, 60), Cohen, Earnshaw, Blackstock (Adebola, 66)
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation