When British rail introduced the class 142 pacer unit in 1985 it looked shiny and new did the job but was unfashionable, As I climb aboard 0817 to Preston I look at the 32 year old train and notice it's looking very tired, struggling to cope and quite dirty.
I'm on my way to Nottingham and rather embarrassingly it's for my first game of the 2016/17 season versus Reading and probably my last. Hopefully I will see us get some points as our perilous position puts us only one point above Blackburn who are in the drop zone, lose today and we will most probably be in relegation positions, I woke up this matchday morning at 3am and realised it would be futile to try and go back to sleep, so off I crept downstairs and decided to put a DVD on , the film was called "I Believe in miracles" strangely enough it was still in its wrapping from Xmas 15, never got round to watching it although I had read the book, which I must say was excellent due to the skills of Daniel Taylor. after watching this fantastic film I must admit I thought today would produce some devine miracle as we definitely need one. My 3rd train pulled into Nottingham station on time at 12:23 by 12:45 I would be tasting my first pint in the world renowned Trent Bridge Inn alongside my friends Chris and Elliott. The usual tactical banter was missing and most of the talk was about who would beat who and all the permutations of our relegation plight. As we eventually went through the turnstiles into The main stand I looked up at the ground I had visited on hundreds of occasions and realised it was in a condition not to unlike that train I'd first got on this morning, Tired, Dirty and struggling to cope. Hopefully our imminent new Greek owner will address this at a later date.
My view was excellent and the thought of being in A block was exciting in itself although it was far from being full.
Mull of kintyre was sang and the game was underway, Forest started well and looked up to the task Britt was sharp looking and young Ben Brereton sent a header into the keeper when it would have been easier to score. He made up for it though for just after half a hour he sent a lovely through ball to Britt Assombalonga and you know the rest, The city ground breathed and forest started to turn on the style, Mark Warburton seems to have a football approach to games and the team seem to look like they are enjoying the challenge of playing on the grass from the back rather than the big hoof,. halftime came and went and forest carried on the onslaught it was only a matter of time before Britt made it 2, after a lovely cross from the workhorse Benny Osborne Assombalonga powered in a lovely header and seven minutes later the man of the match Mustapha Carayol walked through the beleaguered Reading defence and slipped a neat shot into the left side of the goal.. 3-0 Forest. Now let's just pause for a second, the gods must have looked down and realised us trickies were getting too cocky.. What!! Forest are winning without giving their fans a nervous wait, we can't have that can we? So four minutes later the reds decided a tight game was needed, and allowed Reading to score a very weak goal from Kermorgant, this was just what we didn't need and the crowd seemed to make the players panic and twenty minutes on from cruising 3-0 we were only one ahead, that bloke Kermorgant scored another scrappy goal to reduce the city ground into a quivering wreck. 16 minutes plus injury time to secure a precious 3 points. Please please please hold on!!!. To be honest, although it was a nervous wait I believe we played ourselves back into it and in the final throws of the game could have made it four. As the final whistle was blown the famous old ground cheered the lads off, each one of them fought for that win and got what they earned and to be honest if that's what they did every week and played for the team and fans & shirt then we would probably be at the upper side of the championship table.A quick look at the scores and Blackburn have drawn, that's 3 points between us but our goal difference is far superior, and to top it off villa beat Birmingham on Sunday afternoon. so In my humble opinion we need one more point for safety, wether we get it is another matter but it would be a shame to waste this afternoons hard work. After saying goodbye to my compadres I got the train back to Blackpool. At Manchester piccadilly 200 plus Bolton fans were singing about their impending promotion to the championship... I got to thinking I hope they are playing us next year? Gulp... let us pray
Mull of kintyre was sang and the game was underway, Forest started well and looked up to the task Britt was sharp looking and young Ben Brereton sent a header into the keeper when it would have been easier to score. He made up for it though for just after half a hour he sent a lovely through ball to Britt Assombalonga and you know the rest, The city ground breathed and forest started to turn on the style, Mark Warburton seems to have a football approach to games and the team seem to look like they are enjoying the challenge of playing on the grass from the back rather than the big hoof,. halftime came and went and forest carried on the onslaught it was only a matter of time before Britt made it 2, after a lovely cross from the workhorse Benny Osborne Assombalonga powered in a lovely header and seven minutes later the man of the match Mustapha Carayol walked through the beleaguered Reading defence and slipped a neat shot into the left side of the goal.. 3-0 Forest. Now let's just pause for a second, the gods must have looked down and realised us trickies were getting too cocky.. What!! Forest are winning without giving their fans a nervous wait, we can't have that can we? So four minutes later the reds decided a tight game was needed, and allowed Reading to score a very weak goal from Kermorgant, this was just what we didn't need and the crowd seemed to make the players panic and twenty minutes on from cruising 3-0 we were only one ahead, that bloke Kermorgant scored another scrappy goal to reduce the city ground into a quivering wreck. 16 minutes plus injury time to secure a precious 3 points. Please please please hold on!!!. To be honest, although it was a nervous wait I believe we played ourselves back into it and in the final throws of the game could have made it four. As the final whistle was blown the famous old ground cheered the lads off, each one of them fought for that win and got what they earned and to be honest if that's what they did every week and played for the team and fans & shirt then we would probably be at the upper side of the championship table.A quick look at the scores and Blackburn have drawn, that's 3 points between us but our goal difference is far superior, and to top it off villa beat Birmingham on Sunday afternoon. so In my humble opinion we need one more point for safety, wether we get it is another matter but it would be a shame to waste this afternoons hard work. After saying goodbye to my compadres I got the train back to Blackpool. At Manchester piccadilly 200 plus Bolton fans were singing about their impending promotion to the championship... I got to thinking I hope they are playing us next year? Gulp... let us pray
