Lady luck smiles on Forest as they march into the playoff places..

Nottingham Forest - 2
Hartlepool United - 1

It wasn’t quite daylight robbery, as such, but it was a close approximation of it, after a late Junior Agogo goal saw Forest take all three points and elevate themselves to fifth in the league, still with that game in hand - which, if won (big if, I know), would put us top of the pile.  Quite a turnaround, I’m sure you’d agree.

Kris Commons was restored to the side, and he seemed to alternate between an orthodox winger in a 4-4-2, or a third striker on the right a 4-3-3 formation.  The opening exchanges were scrappy from both sides, with Pools not giving us much chance to settle, and well, I suppose it looked like a game of football in the third tier, for that’s what it was.

The lead was taken when Julian Bennett pumped a cross from deep into the area, Junior got his head onto it around the penalty spot to try to find Tyson, it just eluded him but fortunately Commons was gambling on the back post to blast the ball into the roof of the net to give us the lead after only 11 minutes had passed.

Despite a few other half-chances like an Agogo shot from range, freekicks into walls, crosses punched clear but not won back, it was evident that the monkey hangers were starting to look more and more threatening.  After 38 minutes the equaliser came courtesy of ex-Stag Richie Barker, who slipped away from Wes Morgan to head home a cross from the right from around the six yard line.

Forest almost rallied straight away, Agogo forcing a decent save from Budtz, although it was to finish very much end-to-end stuff, Jnior misplaced a pass which allowed Hartlepool to break and force a save from Smith, only for the ball to come back up to the other end and Agogo only manage to direct his header straight at the goalkeeper - pretty much as the half time whistle went.

Where the first half had been reasonably evenly contested, the second half was all about Hartlepool to start with, Forest seemed unable to control, pass or move with any level of competence - but fortunately for us Hartlepool’s possession wasn’t exactly the most penetrating of football in the world, and as the half went on they looked more like a side settling for a draw.

Whilst the on-the-pitch activities was a little dull, plenty of entertainment was to be had watching two fat idiots get arrested in the away end - the first of whom was wrestled to the floor by about three to four police and stewards, with his tracksuit bottoms practically round his ankles, but he still had the presence of mind to keep punching one of the stewards in the nuts.  His mate then waded in too, only to similarly get arrested.  Daft bastards.

Tyson had taken a bit of a shoeing throughout the game, and finally around the hour mark had some lengthy treatment before being taken off to be replaced by Grant Holt.  Shortly after this former-Red Ian Moore hit a shot from the right channel that Smith did well to get a solid palm onto to give Hartlepool a corner.

Chambers nearly scored a very flukey goal that was really a cross, the Pools keeper did well to track back and palm it over.  This started a more resurgent performance from the Reds, and the crowd responded in kind with more backing, as they’d been fairly quiet during the second half.  Agogo headed wide from around 6 yards out from a Chambers cross.

The winning goal came in the 83rd minute, Commons did all he hard work in jinking and tricking his way into the box - but when one-on-one with Budtz he didn’t seem to have it in him to miss the keeper and score, but fortunately the block fell kindly for Junior who was able to prod it home from an impossible-looking angle, much to the glee of the home support and players alike.

Agogo and Commons again combined - Agogo being forced out of space for a shot, so he passed to Kris who was again unable to beat the keeper.  The finish, as ever, was tense - with Forest struggling to keep possession, particularly when Pools pressed and won a corner - fortunately Smith was impeded and once he took the resulting freekick the final whistle brought the game to an end.

So three points earned, with no small amount of luck - but in spells the Reds did well, and can now enjoy sitting in the top six for the first time this season.  We have played a lot better than this and not won, but ultimately it’s a results business so I’ll take an off-day and three points thankyouverymuch!

NB. Sorry for the late post, I pressed the ‘Save’ instead of the ‘Publish’ button, only just noticed! - duh!