Feeble Forest Washed Out at Swindon

By The Daily Red
January 19 2008

Not for the first time this season, I do not think it is unreasonable to say that Forest were disgraceful. Part and parcel of being a football fan is that you will encounter disappointments along the way, and you will not always be rewarded for your commitment...

But the very least travelling supporters deserve is endeavour, and a bit of bottle, from their side.

Teams that go down fighting seldom incur the wrath of supporters, but there are few things more overtly offensive than talented professionals who play as though they would simply rather be elsewhere.

I would hazard a guess that the Forest supporters standing with their faces to the swirling winds and billowing rains would rather have been elsewhere too. But they chose to make another substantial journey, and what came in return was contemptible.

Nobody is naïve enough to expect a win every time they make a journey to a football match. What is expected, and what supporters are entitled to, is base level work rate and a real desire to win the game.

From start to finish today’s game was inhibited by the appalling conditions; relentless swarms of dense drizzle, powerful winds and a farmyard pitch.

It was however, Forest’s approach to the game that did the most damage.

Out-worked, out-battled, out-run, out-tackled, out-passed, in a nutshell: outclassed.

By the time Forest poked in a scarcely-deserved equaliser it could have been three or four nil in Swindon’s favour.

At one point they had the ball in the net after a superb strike from the edge of the box. They were unlucky in that the bungling referee – who made several calls based on guesswork – had blown for a free kick seconds earlier.

For great quantities of the match they were stroking it past us as if we were not there.

Considering it was supposed to have five men in it, our midfield went missing in a major way. They didn’t go for width, they didn’t drive it through the middle, they didn’t play long searching balls – to be quite blunt they didn’t do anything other than give possession back to the home side.

Only when we had deservedly conceded a second goal did we look remotely capable of creating anything, and even then we were dependent on Nathan Tyson’s bursts of pace.

The entire performance was like a hangover. Everything was laboured, delayed and inaccurate, virtually every player was lethargic and disinterested.

In conditions like those seen today players have to roll up their sleeves and concentrate for every second of the game. They have to dig deeper than the norm and earn the right to the points.

We did none of the required.

My view of the late penalty appeal was a good one, and I think we were hard done by. But it’s not as if we can have any complaints with the outcome of the game.

Pathetic as it is, the highlight of the entire game was a moment of characteristic immaturity from Julian Bennett. Swindon basically scored, only for the ball to stop on the goal line because of the build up of mud. Bennett responded by running in front of the home supporters and celebrating extrovertly. He nearly triggered a riot.

Fans who cannot regularly attend games or supporters who only see our competent home performances will probably consider emotive match reactions such a these to be deliberately dramatic overreactions.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

When Forest are bad, they are really bad. And on days like today it is hard to believe that we have held a place in the top three for such a long period of time.

It would not be a problem if we had a bad day at the office on occasion, but these shambolic displays are a permanent instalment in Calderwood’s Forest.

We are woefully inconsistent, and when we are consistent the performances range from ‘how on earth did we beat them’ to ‘good, showed a bit of promise’. But we simply never play with the conviction and the swagger that the talent available should provide.

It will cost us dearly.

A word, also, for the disastrous organisation of visiting supporters by the Swindon ground staff. If it is going to unreserved seating this should be made clear before 20 minutes prior to kick off.

It didn’t cause me any harm personally, but it was clearly chaos. People wanted to sit with their own acquaintances and the result was people spilling into the aisles, which in-turn was combated with obstinate, incompetent stewarding. Sort it out you muppets, it is not difficult.

 

Ratings:

Smith – 7 – did reasonably well in difficult conditions.

Chambers – 5.5 – struggled to get a hold of the game. Popped up with an equaliser that should have gifted an undeserved point.

Morgan – 6.5 – battling performance, excellent for 90% of the game as ever, but ruined it with his moments of chaos.

Breckin – 5 – tackled back well, usually after finding himself well off the pace – which he invariably was.

Lockwood – 5 – beaten too easily and bottled many a 50-50.

Davies – 4.5 – three or four meaningful touches later on in the game after much anonymity. Too much of a fairy for an occasion like this. The optimists say he’s just lacking in confidence – well, he won’t be ever be very confident if he keeps playing like this.

McGugan – 5 – not particularly involved, despite the effort. Was unfortunate to be the one who misplaced a pass, broke the camel’s back, and triggered the angry booing. Hopefully he doesn’t take it personally.

Cohen – 5.5 – improved late on, but not enough. Put himself about a bit more than his colleagues did.

Perch – 3 – CALAMITY JAMES. A James Perch ‘Bloopers’ DVD could be compiled from this game alone.

Commons – 5 – if you didn’t want to play, Kris, then you should have said so.

Holt – 6 – not a very good performance by any means, but at least he was prepared to roll up his sleeves, get a bit muddy and not cower out of 50-50 challenges. Won a superb lunging tackle in the second half and was ridiculously booked when the Swindon player spat out his dummy.

Subs:

Tyson – 6 – his pace was our only threat all afternoon. Probably should have scored.

Wilson - ? – the best defender in the league. Should be starting every game, not being thrown on when we are 2-1 down.

It is no exaggeration to say that performances half as bad as today’s will come up short in the overwhelming majority of our fixtures.

The fact that they are a regular occurrence and show no sign of relenting is a major concern.

And in complete and total honesty I think it’s very unlikely that we will achieve automatic promotion this season unless there is a monumental turnaround. 

 

WIAN!