Nottingham Forest 1 Burnley 0
By Longsider
April 25 2005
Press reports of our game at the City Ground on Saturday. We have reports from the Independent, Daily Telegraph and the Sporting Life for you.
Given that it was a man with the common touch who steered Nottingham Forest to their greatest glories, it was perhaps fitting that 25 years after the second of Forest's European Cup victories it should be a man called Commons who scored the goal that earned them a 1-0 victory over Burnley at the City Ground and saved them from the indignity of descent to the third tier of the England game for the first time since 1951.
Sadly for those who hold the club dear and have lasting respect for Brian Clough, the man who guided Forest to those two unlikely European triumphs, this may be only a stay of execution. Despite Kris Commons' 70th-minute winner from close range, League One still beckons.
News of Crewe's defeat at home to Stoke further raised the spirits of the City Ground faithful, but Gary Megson, Forest's manager, fully appreciates how tough the task of avoiding relegation remains with two games to play - away to Queen's Park Rangers and at home to Gillingham.
"We have to go to QPR and give it our best shot and hope we get the result we need," he said. "Then we have to keep our fingers crossed with regard to how other teams fare."
Clough, as the master manipulator of player potential and as the strict disciplinarian, would have been saddened by the current state of the club that he left when it dropped out of the Premier League in 1993. Although they bounced back, another descent began with relegation again in 1999.
Since then things have begun to look desperate and Forest's preparations for the vital encounter had last week been hampered by reports of up to 12 players abusing bar staff and smashing glasses during a drinking session.
However, they almost made the perfect start when Paul Evans saw his goalbound 35-yard free-kick blocked, but Burnley gained a foothold by counter-attacking. Ade Akinbiyi and James O'Connor should have put them ahead in the first 30 minutes before Forest stepped up a gear.
Scott Dobie headed over from Evans' cross before Commons fired over, and the lively Evans then tested Burnley goalkeeper Danny Coyne from distance.
Burnley remained a threat, but Akinbiyi could not find a way past Colin Doyle in the Forest goal and finally Gareth Taylor, Forest's former Clarets striker, began to make more of an impact in attack alongside Dobie. With 20 minutes remaining, they helped to create Commons' winner. Taylor found John Curtis on the right flank, and he sent over a wicked cross which Dobie met with a firm header back across the face of goal. As the ball ran loose, Commons raced in to fire the ball home into the far corner for his seventh goal of the season.
It may be 25 years since Forest were at their best, but they still produce good players, which financial imperatives have obliged them to sell. Commons can look the star of the show, but only since the departure of Andy Reid, who now plies his trade in the Premiership on the left of Tottenham's midfield. With him at Spurs is Michael Dawson, who made an impact in his first two outings at centre-back since overcoming a shin injury.
There are more like that pair in the pipeline, but they may well have to learn their trade at a lower level.
Medicine works but Forest are in last chance saloon
Daily Telegraph
If a chap can't get bladdered when his world is collapsing what excuse does he need? OK, one or two Nottingham Forest players got stuck into their Buds last week but if they had not been what's loosely termed "professional footballers" no one would have noticed. In any case, the medicine worked. Forest arrested a lamentable sequence of results by eclipsing Burnley 1-0. They are not in League One just yet.
It was Kris Commons, the little gem Joe Kinnear quarried out of Stoke but never used, who lashed in the winner to tumultuous applause. They rose to acclaim him as he left the arena. "Great little player," observed Steve Cotterill, the Burnley manager. "I gave him his first game at Stoke."
In case you think I'm painfully pro-Forest, I'd better point out that Burnley should have been 3-0 to the good before Commons drew back his left peg. Not only that, the game had been so soporific that supporters were passing around editions of Reader's Digest. It seemed that Forest would go quietly in everyone's sleep - by far the most humane way. Now they must keep winning and pray that Crewe or Brighton don't.
Gary Megson (Brian Clough bought and sold him without giving him a game) is handling the situation admirably. He warned his team, revellers and abstainers alike, that their escapade at the notorious Via Fossa presented them with the enormous task of convincing 24,000 followers that Nottingham Forest meant more than a drinks ticket to a bunch of overpaid twerps. There will be no witch-hunt. There is no curfew. "They did nothing illegal," Megson said. Nevertheless he took the trouble to sound out Kenny Burns about the use and abuse of alcohol. With respect, it was like asking Michael Jackson how to keep cosmetic surgery under control. The Forest manager might have done better to consult Larry Lloyd, former landlord of Nottingham's Stage Door hostelry. Lloyd recalls the night Clough and Taylor took them on a bender before the League Cup victory over Southampton: "It was their way of helping us to unwind. I didn't sober up till half-time."
The latest frolic was no doubt a legacy of Kinnear's laissez-get-fat-and-blotto philosophy. It served them well last season when the tension between Paul Hart and his reclusive chairman, Nigel Doughty, badly needed defusing. Then it got rather silly with players reporting late for training and missing most of the tactical nuances because they were texting girlfriends.
Maybe I'm trying to distract you from the distinct probability that the two-times European Cup winners will be factoring Torquay and Colchester into their satellite navigation system next season. When Martin O'Neill delivers his tribute to Clough at next month's bash to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Forest's 1-0 triumph over Hamburg, he may well be addressing the only European champions to have sunk so low. Lower than they were when Clough and Taylor arrived at the City Ground to be confronted by a spotty, overweight John Robertson and a gobby Irish team-mate who spent more time at the bookies than he did on the ball.
Several theories have been advanced to explain Forest's decline. The most imaginative of them lays the blame at the feet of Roger Milford for not dismissing Paul Gascoigne after his throat-high challenge on Gary Parker two minutes into the 1991 FA Cup final. At least Gazza could have walked off instead of being stretchered off for his second heinous tackle on Gary Charles. How different the world might have been. Here is the Sliding Doors version of events: Forest beat 10-man Tottenham, enabling Clough to retire, as promised, with the only silverware that eluded him. Frank Clark inherits a team qualified for Europe, buys Stan Collymore two seasons earlier than he did and the dynasty rolls on.
Though there is some substance in this, I prefer to think of Forest as a moderate provincial club who had the tremendous good fortune to cross paths with a couple of geniuses temporarily out of sorts.
What happened next was a miracle which bore no relation to Forest's past nor had any bearing on their future. Neither Megson nor Commons owe anything to Clough and Taylor.
The sooner we all accept that, the sooner the present can begin.
Nottingham Forest (4-4-2): Doyle; Evans, Morgan, Taylor, Melville; Powell, Gardner, Curtis, Perch; Commons (Harris 90), Dobie.
Subs: Roche (g), Doig, Bopp, Hjelde.
Goal: Commons (70).
Burnley (4-4-2): Coyne; Roche (Oster 65), McGreal, Duff, Camara; O'Connor, Grant (Bowditch 72), Hyde, Cahill; Branch (Valois 78), Akinbiyi.
Subs: Jensen (g), Pilkington.
Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire).
Nottingham Forest 1 Burnley 0
Sporting Life
Kris Commons struck a second-half winner against Burnley to keep Nottingham Forest's Coca-Cola Championship survival hopes alive.
The victory takes the City Ground outfit to within four points of Brighton and Crewe respectively and means they still have a chance of avoiding a tumble into the third tier of English football for the first time since 1951.
The bleakest chapter in Forest's 140-year history may still be confirmed in the next fortnight, but this success ensures Gary Megson's side a stay of execution at the very least.
Forest's preparations for the vital encounter had this week been hampered by reports of up to 12 players abusing bar staff as well as throwing and smashing glasses during a city-centre drinking session.
However, they almost made the perfect start when Clarets midfielder James O'Connor was forced to block superbly from Paul Evans' thunderous goalbound 35-yard free-kick.
But Burnley soon gained a foothold on proceedings - and with Ade Akinbiyi in a lone striking role, they were content to sit back and hit Forest on the counter-attack.
Akinbiyi, buoyed by two goals during his side's midweek 2-0 win against QPR, then fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box as Forest began to ride their luck.
On the half-hour, Burnley should have grabbed the lead. Lee Roche delivered a delightful left-wing cross which O'Connor arrived to meet perfectly with a header - but Forest goalkeeper Colin Doyle comfortably saved.
Mo Camara sent over a cross which Roche met with a header, again warming Doyle's hands before Forest stepped up a gear as the interval approached.
Forest striker Scott Dobie headed over from Evans' cross before Commons fired over from the edge of the box.
The lively Evans then tested Burnley goalkeeper Danny Coyne from distance, but neither side proved capable of breaking the deadlock before half-time.
Forest began to finally impose themselves after the restart, and Evans' dangerous corner required John McGreal to make a vital clearance.
Burnley remained a threat, and Akinbiyi headed narrowly wide from another Camara cross before the pair combined again on the hour mark to engineer an opportunity which should have handed the visitors the lead.
The impressive Camara found Akinbiyi with a perfect pass, and Doyle was again on hand to foil the former Stoke striker from six yards with a fine stop.
Former Clarets striker Gareth Taylor began to make more of an impact for Forest in attack alongside Dobie - and with 20 minutes remaining, the duo were instrumental in creating Commons' 70th-minute winner.
Taylor found John Curtis on the right flank, and he sent over a wicked cross which Dobie met with a firm header back across the face of goal.
As the ball ran loose, Commons raced in to fire the ball home spectacularly into the far corner for his seventh goal of the season.
News of Crewe's defeat at home to Stoke further raised the spirits of the City Ground faithful, who headed home dreaming of an improbable escape from relegation.
Teams
Nottm Forest Doyle, Curtis, Morgan, Melville, Powell, Gardner, Evans, Perch, Commons (Harris 90), Taylor, Dobie.
Subs Not Used: Roche, Doig, Bopp, Hjelde.
Goals: Commons 70.
Burnley Coyne, Duff, Cahill, McGreal, Camara, Branch (Valois 78), O'Connor, Hyde, Grant (Bowditch 72), Roche (Oster 65), Akinbiyi.
Subs Not Used: Jensen, Pilkington.
Att: 24,165
Ref: P Walton (Northamptonshire).