Memries of Forest

[SB_90]

i love Nottingham forest, not necessarily 3 of my favourite games at bramall lane but when you think back to the games that stand out for different reasons under 3 different managers warnock 2003 adams 2011?? & clough 2014. as they were all brilliantly dramatic

2003 - i always say was quite possibly the greatest game ive seen live (which is slightly depressing at age of 13), i still remember it like yesterday been around the ground. looking a programme i think it was raining pre match worrying about micheal Johnson & Darren Huckerby. sat in exact seat as i still am. bit like the derby you think its all over at HT 1-3. but what a comeback. no matter how many times i rewatch peschsolidos goal where he twists and turns past 3 people & run towards me. i still get goosebumps, as proved with my profile pic & just the game. amazing atmosphere that ive only heard on rare occasions. as a 12/13yr that 02/03 season had me hooked me in

2011 - i know its strange to include this game. but i remember going 4 months without a win (dec 2010 - march 2011) going 1-0 down think another loss but manage to get 2 quick goal with about 10mins left to turn it around, then
holding on for grim death. there was such tension & nervousness in crowd. being so close to a 1st victory in 4 months. i think we were whistling before 4th officals had his board up & having ball in corner. then such a roar & probally the biggest high of horrendous season

2014 - that fa cup match partically the last half hour was incredible. because 1st half forest were the better team & 1-0 up. you think yeah nice cup run but ends here. but then myth goes the fa cup draw finds its way to dressing room, so clough uses the carrot of home game v wednesday as motivation. it worked because once coady equalised there was 1 winner as we blew forest away in final half hour. then porter who was on fire in that campaign with a penalty & then the winner by scoring the tap in for 3-1. which nearly killed me. as i went nuts at 2-1, picked up my then 6yr old niece kept jumping & was so tired. then porter gets the winner 2 mins later. stupidly thought ive barely recovered from 2-1. so yeah lets go nuts again & pick my niece up again. i nearly collapsed to due exhaustion at 3-1

 

[grafikhaus]

This latest 'Memries of...' was easy as things often happen in games v. Forest (I'll be struggling with Ipswich and Reading, tho. )

A couple of other things about 1st May, 1993 (Clough's final home game) and among the funniest things I've ever seen at a match. Me and my mates (including legendary pub landlord Bill Burkes* - Penny Black, Brincliffe Oaks, Plough etc.) went to this match by train. On the morning of the game, we were stood on the platform of Midland Station - about 2000 of us. It was boiling hot, the first weekend of summer and our train pulled in - a 2-coach 'Sprinter' jobbie - which had started in Liverpool and ended up in Norwich (via, of course, Sheffield and Nottingham). It was packed with early holidaymakers. Not only was there not a seat to be had, most of the floor was covered in bags and suitcases. Trains were about hourly so what were 2000 Blades to do? Easy. We stormed the train and I remember lots of suitcases being thrown out of the train (and a few holidaymakers!). A bit yobbish, but funny as fuck.

Anyway, after the match, we all met up at a boozer just outside Nottingham station. We had around an hour until our homebound train left so we collared a young Blade who was too young to go in a pub (them were t'days. None of this 'children welcome' bollocks ). Suitably bribed with a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps, he was told to look out for the train pulling in and give us a shout from the pub doorway.

After an hours' serious boozing, he gave us the shout and the pub emptied with people buying extra bottles, taking their pints and shorts with them. As we got on the platform, Bill* who was a massive train buff, told us to hang back. He explained that nearly all the fans would rush to the front of the train, we'd let the crush subside and get on the back of the train. These 2-coach Sprinters were basically a mirror image and we found ourselves (about 15 of us) crammed in what would normally have been the drivers cab if the train was going the other way. We carried on drinking and every surface of this 'cab' was covered in empties and the floor was swimming in booze.

Looking out of the window, I saw a happy, whistling black guy in his uniform coming down the platform. He's seen us, and his face was a picture. He told a railway copper 'Dey is in di drivers cab!' and he was the driver! What train 'expert' Bill had forgotten was that Nottingham wasn't a 'through' station and as trains departed, what was the back of the train when it arrived, became the front, so we were 'in di drivers cab'! Sheepishly (well, not really), we left the cab to go into the passenger coaches. As we'd been so crammed in, bottles and glasses were inevitably knocked off and broken bottles and glass joined the ocean of booze swimming on the floor of di drivers cab. (Think the party in the nurses station in 'Cuckoos Nest').

* Bill used to work in the restaurant car on The Master Cutler in the 60s. The stories he told us about those days were legendary. Coming back from London, the train used to stop at Leicester for around 15 minutes. As soon as the train stopped the entire crew - kitchen staff, waiters, fireman and - yes - driver used to get off and rush into the station buffet. It was usual for 4 pints each to be gulped down in this brief stop. He once told me that, if the driver had 'overdone' it at Leicester, it was quite common for the train to be thundering through Millhouses until somebody realised that Midland Station was coming up fast. Very fast. The brakes were applied too rigourously and the entire train would judder down the line for a few hundred yards...

 

[Borbokisfreekick]

The 5-2 away win was my first ever away game! not a bad one to start with.

The away play off leg when Brown scored the penalty was a cracking game.

Also remember a Paul Devlin last minute equalizer for the opening game 01-02 season.

Morgans overhead kick in the FA Cup drubbing.

Probably my favorite away trip to go to, I think Forest is the away ground I've been to most other than Hillsborough.

 

[pommpey]

My first time at City ground, 4th September 1971. Forest 2 Blades 3 (Dearden, Currie, Scullion). Top of the League

I was at the return match in December. We won that 2-1.

There's summat rather magical about BDTBL in December on a Saturday under the floodlights.

Stood in your parka at the front of the BLLT level with the 18 yard box line up the pitch (which was where I always was) with your arms wrapped round the white railings looking at a knee-level view of the pitch. The Shoreham Kop opposite all dark and foreboding, noise coming from nowhere and the sporadic sparking up here and there of fags.

pommpey

 

[Carlton Blade]

Cloughs last game - sat on the back of an old SYT double decker bus because of a lack of coaches!

First leg of play offs

Also a shitty night game we lost 3-0 a year they won the league. Dellas played centre back and was outstanding hitting 70 yard passes - a precursor for his future success?

Don't like Forest. Also can't stand Wolves or Ipswich (and I fucking hated Steve Sedgeley). So glad we are back in Champ

 

[Lane Ender]

We held our own on the East Stand in that 6-1 defeat.

 

[GaryHamsonsLeftBootLace]

Turning up at the City Ground without tickets and finding the away end was sold out. Covered our scarves and shirts and went in the home end on the old terracing behind the goal. Lost 3-1 (or may even have been 3-0) and was the most hostile home end I've ever been in.

 

[Longtimesupporter]

The 5-2 away victory in 1992 comes to mind. another for 'Zico' Lake and a right-footed(?) volley from the much maligned John Gannon among the goals.

A great day. I was in the Forest part but close to the away end. When a Forest fan turned round to complain to us about us being in the wrong area, my mate replied 'Turn round or you will miss our next goal'.

 

[I should coco]

Stood in your parka at the front of the BLLT level with the 18 yard box line up the pitch (which was where I always was) with your arms wrapped round the white railings looking at a knee-level view of the pitch. The Shoreham Kop opposite all dark and foreboding, noise coming from nowhere and the sporadic sparking up here and there of fags.

You're quite the old romantic aren't you?

I used to stand on the railing on BLLT from 71-75 with my dad a bit further back on a crash barrier. I do remember a really annoying kid in a parka who used to hog all the railings and moan about the state of the pitch. I found it odd but he used to go on about how we should spend more money and have a better pitch.

 

[pommpey]

You're quite the old romantic aren't you?

I used to stand on the railing on BLLT from 71-75 with my dad a bit further back on a crash barrier. I do remember a really annoying kid in a parka who used to hog all the railings and moan about the state of the pitch. I found it odd but he used to go on about how we should spend more money and have a better pitch.

The pitch was ace then, and suited our style of play. Lets face it, I saw Tony Currie lamp that 30 yarder in from that very position and that was with a pumped-solid Mitre Multiplex from just in front of the dugouts on the JSS.

pommpey

 

[unitedbhoy]

In one of the more surreal moments in our history, Chris Morgan, that most agricultural of centre halves, the very embodiment of muck and nettleship, did this against Forest in a 3-0 cup win....

Remember walking away from this game and thinking "Wow that young lad Forte is going to be something special!"

 

[I should coco]

Lets face it, I saw Tony Currie lamp that 30 yarder in from that very position

Cup game that we won 4-0?

The memory fails me; Silent Blade ?

 

[pommpey]

Cup game that we won 4-0?

The memory fails me; Silent Blade ?

Think it was the Liverpool game. 1-1.

pommpey

 

[Silent Blade]

Cup game that we won 4-0?

The memory fails me; Silent Blade ?

Think it was the Liverpool game. 1-1.

pommpey

 

[Silent Blade]

I was at the return match in December. We won that 2-1.

There's summat rather magical about BDTBL in December on a Saturday under the floodlights.

Stood in your parka at the front of the BLLT level with the 18 yard box line up the pitch (which was where I always was) with your arms wrapped round the white railings looking at a knee-level view of the pitch. The Shoreham Kop opposite all dark and foreboding, noise coming from nowhere and the sporadic sparking up here and there of fags.

pommpey

All three goals were at the Lane End. Neil Martin's goal gave Forest the half time lead. Woody equalized with an indirect free kick inside the penalty box with a thunderous shot that went through the Forest defensive wall. TC's winner was a cracker from outside the penalty box that Jim Barron (our assistant manager when Steve Thompson took charge in last few months of 1997-98 season) had no chance of stopping it

 

[I should coco]

Was there an FA Cup game (Bristol City??? Ipswich ????) where Currie hit another screamer at the Lane?

 

[pommpey]

Yep. I was always by the 'SEXY REXY' sign on the BLLT.

Quality strike. Just watched the Man City game with Currie's bullet header. Missed that one. But was at the 1972 on (on my 10th birthday) where Franny Lee was sent off. Again, dark, muddy Satdi under the floodlights, Lee trudging off covered in mud. I think he'd had a game of niggles all match with Ted H and Lee ended up walking. I can remember the press cameramen from behind the BL goal racing up the touchline to photograph him slowly walking off.

pommpey

 

[Silent Blade]

Was there an FA Cup game (Bristol City??? Ipswich ????) where Currie hit another screamer at the Lane?

Yes, hit our 2nd goal in the dying minutes in the FA Cup 3rd round against Bristol City in January 1975. He met a low pass from the left outside the penalty box, used the outside of his right foot and the shot swerved round Roy Cashley's despairing hands

 

[I should coco]

Yes, hit our 2nd goal in the dying minutes in the FA Cup 3rd round against Bristol City in January 1975. He met a low pass from the left outside the penalty box, used the outside of his right foot and the shot swerved round Roy Cashley's despairing hands

That's the one.

Thanks very much, as you have stemmed the tide of senility that seems to engulf me most days.

 

[GaryHamsonsLeftBootLace]

That Curry goal

 

[cahill]

Next match after the 1-6 drubbing was mid week home against Pigs in a friendly


That right Silent ?

I was at the Pigs match, seemed to mean more to them than us

 

[Silent Blade]

Next match after the 1-6 drubbing was mid week home against Pigs in a friendly


That right Silent ?

I was at the Pigs match, seemed to mean more to them than us

Yes 2-0 win in County Cup semi final. Paul Garner and Cliff Calvert scored

 

[Garibaldi]

Some cracking memories against Forest. So many great matches over the years. I'm sure I've read that Forest always consider us as one of their main games after Derby. Strange that I always thought we had more of a rivalry with them whilst Wednesday always used to have more of one with Derby.