Youth Cup vrs Forest

[Harry Genshaw]

Shitter. Never mind. Be good to see a couple break through.

"Boooooooo" .

They might as well get used to it

[Nottingham_Blancs]

I don't post often on here, but here's a report for you of the youth cup quarter final at the City Ground

Players mentioned in the report are from the team sheet and the match day announcer said he 'thought' it was correct !

Estimated number of Wanderers supporters there ...about 12 ...four students sampling the local pies and chips, me, my daughter (there so I wasn't Billy no mates)...a judging by the noise when we scored maybe another six dotted around the main stand.

Spotted in the directors box....Sammy Lee, Jimmy Phillips, Lennie Lawrence Dougie Freedman, Phil Gartside ..........oh and Julian Darby in his virtual 'Forest Hat' !!

We took the lead inside a few minuted a terrific shot from distance by Cloughie ...keeper grasping thin air !

In the first 10 minutes or so we were cutting through them, not really pass and move, more long ball into channels over the heads, to use the mobility of Clough and Youngs (number 10). We should have gone 2 up in those opening minutes.

Apart from a little Forest winger and a small centre forward, the Forest team seemed much bigger, taller and physically stronger than the Wanderers.

To counter our long balls into channels and over the top, Forest dropped off and defended deep, which meant we had difficulty breaking them down.

Cloughie wasn't getting much service and Tom Youngs (number 10) had excellent speed and dribbling technique, but on a couple of times held onto the ball for a tad too long rather than release it to a player who was in a better position to score.

What I noticed in both teams is that players ran with the ball more, attempted more dribbles than you would see in a championship match.

The thread already tells you how the scoring went so here are a few player mentions for those who caught my eye.

Keeper : Jan Ole Seivers : Looked pretty good, excellent handling, made a couple of decent saves, commanded his box

Right Back : No. 2: Jordan Hendrie : Looked like Jamie Pollock and played like him a bit

Centre Half : No. 5 : Niall Maher : Read game well, took a lot of physical treatment from the big Forest lads.

Right Winger : No. 7 : Chris Lester : Ran as fast as my whippet, put in some decent crosses, great cross for the own goal to put us 2-1 up.

Forwards :

No. 9 : Zach Clough, nice first touch , superb goal, when Forest went 3-2 up, we kicked off and he dribbled all the way through the forest team, from centre circle into the penno box, jinked and ghosted past half a dozen players only to see his final shot blocked by a red shirt. Would have been a sublime goal.

No. 10 : Tom Youngs : Speedy, ball stuck to his foot a lot, good prospect, needed to release the ball though after all his hard work.

A couple of players will be a bit disappointed with their performances, but it's not fair to mention them as they are only kids and the pitch was bobbly and not very conducive to pass and move footie (it was awful when the 1st team where there 2 weeks ago !)

Forest deserved the win, but Bolton were not as clinical in front of goal as they were at Spurs. We should have took advantage in the 1st half when we missed some good chances !!

Thats it really. Cold and damp by the side of the Trent. Visiting the City ground reminds you that we have a really good stadium at the Wanderers. You probably know the main stand at Forest is old and outdated, but the Bridgford End where the Wanderers fans were a couple of weeks ago was awful...tiny seats, no leg room and the Cloughie stand is a bit dated now too !!

Oh and for some obscure reason we played in navy away shirts rather than white ...and the shirt looked great without the 188 bet logo !!!

Cheers , Phil

[bobo the clown]

Great Phil, ta.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Superb reportage o notts_blanco

[bobo the clown]

Oh, & "Coyle Out !!!" by the way !!