Nottingham Forest 1 Burnley 1

By Longsider
March 18 2004

The Clarets picked up a valuable point at the City Ground last night. The performance was much better than the one produced at Coventry and will have given Burnley fans the lift we needed as we go into the final 9 games of the season.

Burnley picked up another point in the battle for survival at the City Ground last night. The result has now moved us above Gillingham and more importantly we are now 3 points ahead of Derby. We may have even taken all 3 points last night after scoring early on and holding Forest at bay until 10 minutes from time.

Changes were made to the team that threw in the towel on Saturday with both Mo Camara and Graham Branch making expected returns except that Branch replaced Mark McGregor at centre half. The one other change saw Neil Wood take the place of Paul Weller on the left side of midfield.

Burnley started much better than they did at the weekend with everyone of the outfield players showing far more commitment than we saw on Saturday. The opening 10 minutes of the half saw Forest dominate with Gareth Taylor causing us all sorts of problems in the air.

Taylor could have had two in this spell when he first headed wide before having a goal disallowed for offside. Burnley did look lively on the break though and should have taken the lead shortly after the disallowed goal when Ian Moore shot wide after connecting with a Neil Wood cross.

We did take the lead moments later though when Neil Wood had a long range shot spilled by the Forest keeper and Richard Chaplow was the first to react to put the ball into the net.

The goal sparked even more Forest pressure with Burnley having to withstand wave after wave of attacks. Jensen was forced to make two great saves whilst Branch, May and Chaplow all had to make last ditch blocks to prevent a goal. The spell of pressure did drop towards the end of the half and the Clarets could have possibly gone in two up after Moore, Wood and West all went close.

The second half was better from Burnley in terms of possession and Forest appeared to have run out of ideas before Joe Kinnear introduced David Johnson to the game. Johnson got a fanstatic reception from the home fans as well as from the 400 or so Clarets who were behind the goal we were attacking.

He created panic a few minutes after coming on when he latched onto a long ball to round Jensen who was stranded just outside the box. His cross was headed away though by Mo Camara who was under pressure from Reid.

The Forest goal came against the run of play when Andy Reid dribbled past a few players before releasing Gareth Taylor to smash home with his left foot. Taylor didn't celebrate and later apologised to Stan for scoring the goal. The goal sparked Forest back into life and almost immediately Johnson scored but the linesman had put his flag up for offside. Johnson went close again with a header that beat Jensen but fortunately hit the bar.

Amazingly Burnley could have even won it at the end when Chaplow headed wide and then Little had a shot deflected off the line.

The draw was a fair result and should we win on Saturday it will be a good point.

Nottingham Forest:-
Roche, Louis-Jean(Impey 61), Walker(Thompson 24), Morgan, Dawson, Jess, Sonner, Williams, Reid, Barmby(Johnson 61), Taylor.

Subs:- Formann and Westcarr

Burnley:-
Jensen, West, May, Branch, Camara, Little, Grant(McGregor 78), Chaplow, Wood(Weller 77), Blake, I.Moore.

Subs:- Abbey, Scott and Townsend

The referee was Ray Olivier(West Midlands)