A day that began well enough ended in frustration and disappointment, as Bart-Williams' deflected shot on the counter-attack cost the Clarets the point which was the least they deserved from a game short on real goalmouth action.
The good start was an excellent breakfast in Tracks café, opposite Kings Cross Thameslink station, which was much needed after a few beers in the Porterhouse on Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, the previous evening. A huge pub that does its own beer, and well worth a visit if you are in the area, as one of the brews is a rather tasty porter. (Hang on, don’t I do the beer guides? – Web Tsar.)
A good following of London Clarets were treated to the rarity of a delay not on the West Coast line, with the Midland Mainline doing a very passable impersonation of one of Richard Branson's. Rather like the day, it started well enough but got slower as it went along, and the final straw was a ten minute delay outside Nottingham station where the only problem that was mentioned during the brief apology was the wait for an empty platform. So why were we half an hour late getting that far? A speedy restructuring of the hastily organised surge and we were off and running, almost literally in some cases, as Woody set a terrific pace to the first pub, the Bell. Although this was my first visit to the City Ground, I've been to Nottingham several times before and I do like the place. It has a lively feel about it and the pubs are interesting, varied and in plentiful supply. There is also a rumour that there is a high ratio of women to men. I must admit I didn't notice the men, but there are certainly plenty of young women. Not that any of us were staring. Honest.
The pre-match pubs passed in a blur. The treasurer missed a couple of hurdles due to the return of his gout, the travel secretary dropped a pint, the web tsar was nearly run over (and perspired a little in the muggy conditions, but we are not allowed to mention it, so I won't) and the quiz captain went to the gym. No, that's not a typo, or even a trendy new wine bar in Nottingham. I know it's difficult for some to keep up with the surges, but that's getting ridiculous.
A quick bit of work by Phil near the station grabbed us a cab and we were on our way to the ground. Team news by phone from my sister was as expected: NTG, West, Davis, Cox and Gnohere, Weller, Ball, Cook and Briscoe, with Taylor and Moore (I) up front. Bench was warmed by Cennamo, McGregor, new signing Tony Grant, Payton and Papa. After a quick trip to the ticket office I managed to get a seat behind the rest of the London Clarets. The team could have lined up as 5-3-2, as at West Brom, but instead Stan matched Forest in a 4-4-2 formation.
Having seen most of Forest's game against Bolton on the tv on Monday, they looked a tidy side that passed the ball well, but struggled to threaten seriously, with David Johnson, the £3m former Crewe and Ipswich player, looking like a man short on confidence and goals. And so the first half proved, as neither side deserved to be ahead at the break. It was a half was littered with free kicks, mainly for Forest, as the referee also managed to book three Clarets. It wasn't as if there was a bad foul in the game. The Forest players quickly learned that if they fell over they got a free kick, none more so than the aforementioned Johnson, whose spectacular dive over Nik earned NTG a booking while the assistant referee, not five yards away, gave nothing. In fact, the worst foul was a late challenge on Paul Cook, for which the Forest offender merely received a talking to.
Gnohere took a knock fairly early on and was replaced by Tony Grant after about half an hour as he failed to run it off. This meant a re-shuffle as Briscoe moved to left back and Cook to left midfield. For his first showing, and having only been with the rest of the squad for a couple of days at most, Grant looked a very useful player. He passed the ball well, rarely giving it away. He also tackled well and got forward, and had a volley comfortably saved by Ward. Although the referee was biased, he was also incompetent, as he missed a blatant handball by Ball on the edge of the Clarets box.
At half time, as usual the queues for the pies were far too long, so back to the seat for the second half. No changes, and not really a lot of change in the play, with both sides passing the ball whenever possible but not making either keeper work hard enough. Burnley struggled to find real width, and Forest's delivery was generally easy pickings for Nik.
As the half wore on the Clarets began to gain the ascendancy, and Taylor had a header that went just wide. Hjelde was booked when Moore fell over and got a free kick, and Ball was booked for a totally innocuous foul. Forest then had a great chance after Cox was clearly tripped by a Forest forward but the referee allowed play on. Luckily the chance was wasted. Moore was then replaced by Papa as Stan tried to make a positive move to go out and win the game.
It was not be, as Forest counter-attacked from our corner and Bart-Williams was left with too much space on the left-hand side of the Clarets box. It looked like he had delayed too long, but his shot was deflected and Forest had the lead with ten minutes to go. Payton came on for Paul Cook as the Clarets went 4-3-3 in search of the equaliser. Forest now played with more confidence and kept possession well, reducing Burnley to a couple of half chances that came to naught.
Overall, the performance was not bad, but we lacked a cutting edge and created very little in the way of clear-cut chances. I would describe the game as being very similar to the QPR away game last season, where we held them fairly comfortably and scored in the latter part of a game of few chances. It didn't work out that way at Forest, and next week's game is now crucial as the Clarets need to get back to winning ways. Plus points: Grant's debut was very promising, Cox and Davis were outstanding at the back and once again Paul Cook had a good game with some excellent passing and tremendous work rate, although he did put us in serious trouble on one occasion with a misplaced pass. Negative points were that too many players had quiet games, not really doing anything wrong, but you need a bit more than that to win games. In particular, Paul Weller looked a shadow of the player who played so well at the end of last season. The other bad point was another four bookings in a game that really didn't merit any at all.
A disappointed bunch of London Clarets made their way home, via several of Nottingham's finest, including, of course, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which made us all fell better for a little while. (Until the next morning in fact.) Robin Hood appeared in one pub – well, I'm pretty sure he did! I also seem to remember the nice buffet man on the train letting us buy wine, even though we were only in standard class. The Euston Flyer was involved at some point later in the evening, although I'll need somebody to remind me what went on there. I didn't make the curry as I finally admitted defeat and went home. A good day out, just a shame about the result.
Nice beer, shame about the ref