Forest 3 Brighton 2

another goal
By Kevin Bethell
November 28 2002

Forest climbed above Reading and Norwich with a close 3-2 win tonight over unlucky Brighton.

Forest survived a spirited Brighton fight-back to move up to 3rd place in Division 1 with a deserved victory at The City Ground.

After a strong start the home side made the break-through on 8 minutes when Marlon Harewood blasted home after David Johnson's initial effort had been parried by Brighton keeper Kuipers.

Several more chances followed for Forest but a combination of good goal-keeping and woeful finishing kept the score at 1-0. However, on the stroke of half-time striker Johnson broke through, before slotting a low shot past the keeper to make it 2-0, this was no more than the home side deserved.

There were fewer chances in the 2nd half and it took until the 76th minute for Forest to make the points safe, David Prutton's cross finding Jack Lester at the back post who headed into the net despite the efforts of Kuipers in the Brighton goal.

Having been untroubled at the back Forest let the away side back into the game with some sloppy play in the last 10 minutes.
Firstly, Gareth Williams gave the ball away in midfield to allow Steve Sidwell in to blast a low shot into the net and in stoppage time Riccy Scimeca's misplaced pass allowed Nathan Jones to run and smash an unstoppable shot into the top corner giving Darren Ward no chance.

Brighton forced a corner in the closing seconds but nothing came of it as Forest hung for a much needed 3 points after the disappointments of the weekend.