Forest 0-1 Town
Town came into the game confident after back to back wins and Forest wanting to correct their loss against MIddlesborough despite their recent good form. Colwill and Turton came in for Lees and Sarr for Town.
The game was end to end from the start with Thomas unleashing a strike in the opening seconds which beat the keeper but came back off the cross bar. Forest soon settled though and the game was end to end. Ward had to come off after 15 minutes to be replaced by Rhodes. Despite Forest perhaps having the edge of the early encounters Town took the lead after 30 minutes. Colwill fed Holmes who turned his man well, moved into space and released Toffolo who played a first time pass into the box for holmes to take under his control and slot past the keeper. The move was quick and fluid and Toffolo has been consistantly providing the same ball into the area recently with the same result.
The second half continued as the first had finished with Forest pressing for the equaliser. They constantly probed, there were goalmouth scrambles and Zinckernagel struck the underside of the bar. Despite the constant pressure the best chance of the second half fell to Sinani which he should have finished when Rhodes robbed Worrall of the ball and squared for Sinani with just the keeper to beat he put it over the bar. In fairness though it was not the easiest cross to control.
The result was harsh on Forest but Town defended well once taking the lead and even then should have gone 2-0 up. Spense and Johnson kept tearing us apart as they did in the previous match but a lack of composure, luck and good defending gave is the points. At times we gave the ball away too easily which invited more pressure on but this was a really good result.
Ratings
Nichols
Good performance again from the keeper. Positioning was good and what saves he needed to make he did. He commanded the area and yet another clean sheet.
Rating 8
Colwill
Good to have him back and a very assured performance today. At 18 he marshalled much more experienced opponents very well. Looks a little fresher for the break as well.
Rating 8 MOM
Pearson
His best performance for a while. Very strong at the back and when defending set plays. Looked very assured at the centre of the back 3.
Rating 8
Turton
In a defensive position which suits him best. He did the basics well and stuck to his task when faced by good pacey attackers.
Rating 7
High
On the ball he was a little poor today and gave posession away too often. Needs to improve his physicality and the passing wasn’t at it today.
Rating 5
O’Brien
Very good game from Lewis. particularly in the first half as he drove at the Forest back line. In the second half he did disappear as a attacking force but that was necessary to help out in a defensive midfield function.
Rating 8
Toffolo
Delivered the perfect ball for Holmes to score the only goal of the game. Did his job really well on the left particularly in a defensive function.
Rating 7
Thomas
He was disappointed to be withdrawn in the second half but with the defensive nature and another game this weekend it was the right move. He had not managed to influence teh game in the same manner as teh last match but was a threat.
Rating 6
Holmes
Took his goal really well and in the first half he did cause them problems finding pockets of space. A solid performance.
Rating 7
Sinani
Was fairly quiet. Tried getting into the game but couldn’t find the spaces. Did have the opening in the second half which went over the bar.
Rating 5
Ward
Only saw 15 minutes but was looking sharpe until his knock.
Rhodes
Saw most of the match and put himself about without much service. A good solid 75 minutes for him.
Rating 6
King Carlos
We defended well as a team. A little deep and gave away possession too easily which Carlos was aware of from his post match comments. A good result and good unity from the side. It was good to see Pipa back from the bench, felt we missed the options of Vallejo and Hogg but no issues with the decisions made.
Rating 8
View From the Stand 