VENUE #66 NOTTINGHAM FOREST The City Ground

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

19th September 2015

City Ground, Nottingham

Ground Capacity:- 30, 576 all Seated

Kick Off:- 12:30

Entry Fee:- £28

Programme:-  £3

Ground # 66

NOTTINGHAM FOREST ... 1    MIDDLESBROUGH ... 2

       

      Sloppy defending from today's hosts Forest resulted in the two goals that sealed their fate.  After only three minutes a short back pass from Kelvin Wilson was picked up by Albert Adomah but his shot was blocked by De Vries in the Forest goal.  Seconds later a low cross from the right by George Friend was poorly dealt with by the Forest rear guard and David Nugent made the most of the gift and poked the ball home from inside the six yard box.

      The home side were back level within four minutes when Nelson Oliveira's shot was deflected wide and Henri Lansbury took the resulting corner from the left picking out Matt Mills in the six yard box who side footed a volley into the roof of the Middlesbrough net.

      Big cries of joy came from the home stands as their side were back in the game but their relief was only to last another 25 minutes when Grant Leadbitter drove in a cross from the right which Kevin Wilson again made a grave error by trying to head the ball back to his own keeper with Daniel Ayala waiting to head the ball home from close range.  At half time the score remained 1 - 2 to Boro.

 

    After the interval Forest were kicking toward the Trent End and this seemed to inspire them and it wasn't long before they had their best chance so far when, this time, uncertainty in the Boro defence saw Ryan Mendes go clear and one on one with the keeper, if he had squared the ball across the box to Nelson Oliveira he would have had an open goal to tap into but the selfish Mendes tried to beat the keeper himself and the inspired keeper palmed the ball away to safety.

      In the 77th minute the home fans are roaring with delight once more as Ben Gibson Handles the ball in the penalty area and referee Lee Mason gives the penalty after consulting his linesman.  You could feel the tension around the ground as Henri Lansbury stepped up to take the kick, the home fans were willing the midfielder to

score and snatch a point out of the game but the number 10 hit a poor shot down the centre of the goal as Dimitrios Konstantopoulos dived to his left but still managed to block the attempt with his feet and winning the Boro keeper man of the match as well as the game for his team.

      This is the second week running that my host team has lost 2 -1 I hope this isn't the start of an unwelcome trend.  I would have to say that the better side won the game although they were a bit physical though I should imagine major contenders once more for out-right promotion were as Forest may have to settle for the lottery of the play-offs once more.

  

The view of the ground coming across the bridge over the river Trent is quite impressive the two
tiered Trent end stand that rests on the banks of the river being the main focal point.  This stand is the
newest part of the ground and has a good look about it, really sets off the whole feel of the place.  It has rows of seats in a glass container running across the centre and as the Brian Clough stand the top tier looks larger than the lower giving it a real towering appearance, mind sitting in the main single tiered stand the other three stands do look a lot bigger and spacious.

   Across the pitch at the other end is a quite odd looking stand, the Bridgeford starts off two tiered and then descends down to a single tier to the right side as you look at it, the only reason I can think of for this is that the people in the flats to the rear of this corner have an un-obstructed view of the game.  On the other side the lower tier corner to the near post of the goal is allocated to away supporters.

     Built in the 1980's the Brian Clough stand is another impressive two tiered Stand that runs the

touchline, which, on it's top tier has the word FOREST painted on it's seats in between two emblems of the club crest.  There are executive boxes between the two tiers which makes the top tier look larger than the lower or maybe it is anyway.

   On the other side of the pitch is the main stand, single tiered and so neatly adjoins the off set corner of the Bridgeford end.  This stand is the oldest part of the ground and seems a bit dated in comparison to the other stands.  There are a couple of supporting girders which can obstruct your view pending on where your sitting, I was OK for I was sat right on the centre line as the girders were just blocking the corner flags.  It does let down the stadium a bit for it needs updating, maybe if Forest get promotion then this could be on the agenda.  The toilets were adequate as were the other facilities, not the best by a long chalk but they did the job.  One thing I must mention if you intend on visiting the club shop please either go after the game or come

very early as I was queuing for three quarters of a hour to get served.  There are plenty of staff but they don't seem to be the quickest, they have a sign behind them on the tills that say's "Rome wasn't built in a day but I wasn't on that particular job", for if they were it might explain why they're so slow as it was built about 2000 years ago.   

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