A Six Point Weekend?!

A Six Point Weekend?!

          Right, I'm not sure how this has happened, and I'm not even sure when it last happened, but this weekend I celebrated a six point weekend. I'll start with the game I was at.

Young Centre-Back, James Weaver was caught gurning by the Camera man on Saturday.

          Ollerton travelled to Brigg to play in the Northern Counties East League Division One. Travelling with a strong squad that included two new signings and some players returning to the side who had missed the mid-week win over Clipstone. From the get go Kyle Ludlow looked destined to score and his goal came with aplomb. Using his brute force to get away from the Brigg defenders and hammering the ball towards the corner of the goal from outside the box and into the net. Ludlow was a nuisance to Brigg defenders all game, one of his challenges in the air actually led to the Brigg Captain going off injured, holding his stomach. Ollerton began to assert their dominance as the half went on, until a deep ball from Sean Dickinson set Gav King through on goal. The local forward, enjoying his second spell at Ollerton finished calmly, despite a touch from the 'keeper, into the net to give Ollerton a 2-0 lead going into the break.

          The second half carried on in more or less the same vein. Chance after chance came and went but Brigg's young goalkeeper kept them in it. That was until he more or less chucked one into his own net. Kyle Ludlow's effort bobbled towards the keeper who appeared to catch it, but it still somehow ended up in the goal. Gav King also got a second goal, a carbon copy of his first in truth to notch up his 17th of the season. the Only blotch on Ollerton's record was a poorly conceded goal from a Myles Lawman free kick. The young lad basically waited for the wall to jump before putting the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Lewis Bingham wasn't prepared to take this though and immediately won Ollerton a freekick near the left hand corner flag. He took it himself and drilled the ball into the box, where Ben Bowring rose highest to nestle the ball into the top corner of the net. Midweek cup hero Mark Carter and new signing Triston Burrell both had chances late on having come off the bench but the game finished at 5-1 to Ollerton.

Ben Bowring rises high to head home in the final stages.

          In the other half of my six point weekend, Nottingham Forest stole three points from runaway league leaders Wolves. Two goals in five minutes gave Forest the win and extended new Forest manager Aitor Karanka's run against Wolves. The reds were under early pressure and could probably feel lucky to have not fallen behind before Kieran Dowell's deflected shot found the net. Wolves were still reeling from that setback when Ben Osborn doubled Forest's advantage three minutes later. Forest capitalised after Wolves allowed a cross from Matty Cash to come in to Osborn, who scored with a rising drive into the roof of the net from 15 yards or so. In an effort to get back into the game Wolves replaced their fullbacks with wingers, but that nearly backfired early in the second half. Danny Fox's header forced a good save out of Ruddy who tipped over.
          "Forest went to the League leaders and came away with all three points." This is a statement you won't hear too often, if you add on the fact that they deserved the result as well then people would never believe you.

          In other news, my post last week mentioned I was going to the Dublin Derby in February to watch Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers. We have since discovered that this game is well known for violence amongst supporters and we've been told to keep our heads down and not sound "too English." If we get back, then I'm sure I'll have something to write about.

Until next time,

Craig

The Football Holiday(s) (Prequel)

The Football Holiday(s)

          Throughout 2018 my friends and I have made it our personal goal to go to at least three capital cities in Europe to watch a football game. Originally we looked at Berlin as our first stop to watch them in their game on Friday 16th February but due to the cost getting higher and higher as we looked. So instead we looked elsewhere and after a solid five minutes of looking I found flights to Dublin for the same weekend and a game between Bohemians F.C. and Shamrock Rovers in the Irish Premier Division. I'm led to believe, and apologies in advance as my knowledge of Irish Football is sketchy at best, that this is a local Derby.

In one months time we'll be amongst this lot 'The Notorious Boo-Boys'

          The idea for this came from The True Geordie (a Youtuber) and his colleague Lawrence McKenna. They were sponsored to go on a trip where they took in three games in three cities across a short period of time. Our trip will hopefully be slightly easier, seeing as I only actually have to put up with my mates in one city without all the added travel to get to the next place on time.

The True Geordie (Brian), and Lawrence McKenna interview Alan Shearer on their Podcast.

          Our aim to complete this challenge this year sees us take in Dublin and potentially Berlin, with Lisbon thrown in as an option but many other cities suggested. (Any more suggestions are appreciated). Maybe one day we'll try this again, but go to games all over the world?

          In other news, Ollerton Town played their first game of 2018 on Saturday, playing out a 1-1 draw with Winterton Rangers, Ollerton drew level late in the second half when a Tom Moody cross was thrown into his own goal by the Winterton Goalkeeper. I've also started writing a piece in the programme would you believe it? 

          If I get a chance then I write a second post this week to summarise tonight's big game as Ollerton face local rivals Clipstone in the League Cup.

Until Next time though,

Craig

Arsene Makes an Arse of Arsenal Fans

Arsene Makes an Arse of Arsenal Fans

          On Sunday Nottingham Forest played the FA Cup Holders, Arsenal, in the competitions 3rd round stage. As a Forest fan I was expecting very little from the game but boy, was I surprised. Two of my friends were going to the game, both Arsenal fans, and invited me to join them. But, like a fool I turned it down.

           That afternoon I settled down to watch the game on my tablet, still expecting very little as a very inexperienced Forest side came up against an Arsenal side with over 600 Premier League appearances between them. Now let me make this clear Arsenal hardly fielded a weakened team. Lining us with David Ospina, an international goalkeeper with Mathieu Debuchy, a French international, Per Metersacker, a German International and Rob Holding, a future England international at the back. The midfield was on the young side with Reiss Nelson, Chris Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, all Academy graduates, playing alongside Egyptian international Mohammed Elneny. The front three of Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi is also far from lacking experience. With all being first team regulars of late so for Arsenal Supporters to call it a poor team is laughable.

          Forest Lined up with five of their own Academy Graduates in the eleven, with a further two players from other clubs under the age of 23. Only three of the players who started for Forest have made Premier League appearances as well. A vastly inexperienced side to say the least.

Arsenal's defence has come under scrutiny since the game, especially following the first goal.

          The opening goal fell to Forest. Kieran Dowell, The England under 19 international on loan from Everton whipped a freekick in towards the near post where Eric Lichaj was making a run meet the ball and headed home. The picture above shows just how poor Arsenal defended that goal and I'm not going to waste my time explaining the obvious.

          Arsenal quickly pulled one back through Per Mertesacker who scored his 10th goal for Arsenal in all competitions, this being the first one that hasn't been scored with his head. In my opinion Forest's second goal was brought about by poor defending. two poor clearance headers from a right wing cross resulted in the ball coming to Lichaj on the edge who vollied home brilliantly.

Forest Celebrate Eric Lichaj's second goal.

          In the second half Ben Brereton's running continued to be excellent, he drew fouls and held up play for the counter to take place. He was rewarded for his hard work by taking the penalty won by Matty Cash for a foul by Rob Holding. A Mistake by Jordan Smith in the Forest goal allowed Danny Welbeck to roll home into an unguarded net.

          Another defensive mistake allowed Forest to win their second penalty.  Mertesacker passed the ball directly to Armand Traore who darted past Debuchy and then the German himself before being brought down in the box for a penalty by Debuchy. Upon looking at the replays it appears that he may have won the ball, but in my opinion he had already tripped Traore before touching the ball. This time Kieran Dowell stepped up and scored the penalty, albeit amidst controversy as he appeared to kick the ball onto his standing foot (which for some reason is not allowed, it seems like a petty rule especially as he slipped). The referee spoke to his assistant in the aftermath but he gave the goal regardless. 

          Joe Worrall was sent off for Forest soon afterwards for two bookings in a matter of minutes, one for dissent when it looked like the second penalty would be ruled out. The second booking was for a challenge from behind.
          At fulltime, Eric Lichaj, the scorer of Forest's first two goals, said to BT Sport that his wife had promised him a dog if he scored a hattrick at any point this season. Having already scored twice he claims he 'politely asked Ben (Brereton) if I could take the penalty, I can't repeat what he said next and told me to go away.'
          His wife Katherine received a torrent of tweets, trying to get Eric the dog he deserved, but she remained adamant that he couldn't have one. That was until last night. Eric Lichaj posted a photo on Twitter of himself with his new puppy. Everyone's a winner in Nottingham, especially Eric Lichaj.

          At some point I'll get back to writing about Ollerton Town, but they've not played now since December 23rd due to postponements which is extremely disappointing. But that's all for now. Until next time...

Craig

Nothing changes, just the names and the faces.

Nothing changes, just the names and the faces.

          The summer was a period of change at my beloved Nottingham Forest. The evil Kuwaiti family that took a few years to rip the club apart and put pictures of themselves all over the joint left the club. Albeit about half a year too late for my liking. I have no issue so to speak with Evangelos Maranakis, but I feel as though I would have been happier with John Jay Moores at the helm.          

          The period of change began early on, Fawaz Al Hasawi's last act as owner/chairman was to appoint Mark Warburton as manager, although supposedly that was the doing of the incoming owners. Following that came wholesale changes in the boardroom, including a new chairman in Nicholas Randall and numerous other things to appease the supporters. 

Nicholas Randall, the new Chairman acting on behalf of Evangelos Markanakis.

          The summer transfer business looked like it would be good for the side, replacing the outgoing Britt Assombalonga with Daryl Murphy and giving  Ben Brereton more play time was likely to make supporters happy, Jason Cummings as well was considered a good summer signing. Barrie McKay looked good early on but hasn't shown much consistency, Kieran Dowell has been nothing short of quality, Darikwa doesn't look much better than Lichaj in all honesty and Liam Bridcutt has pleasantly surprised me. 

          Forest had looked 'not too bad.' all season, but not special. Not how I would like to see Forest playing. Then December came. Four points from a possible eighteen, made even worse with the Boxing Day defeat at home too manager-less Sheffield Wednesday in which we looked gutless followed by a defeat at home to Sunderland where, again, we looked poor. On New Years Day the news broke that Mark Warburton had been sacked.

Mark Warburton, the latest in a long line of departing managers.

          This decision has thrown me. All I have craved in recent years is stability at the club, but Warburton's tactics were not up to it. The repeated decision to play some of our best players out of position was baffling, his lack of a plan B was also becoming an issue and it is safe to say Forest were not a side to be feared. Since Steve McClaren, we have had eight permanent managers. Two of which were appointed by the late Nigel Doughty, five by Fawaz and allegedly two by Maranakis. This number is far too high.

          It is crucial that the next appointment is a long term one. My choice would be Danny Crowley of Lincoln City, a young manager with one promotion already on his CV would be a good choice in my eyes. Forest have an exciting talent pool in the current youth team that can be nurtured into a top side. Brereton, Cash, Osborn, Walker, Worrall, Iacovitti and Smith are already involved regularly or on the fringes of the first team and I see no reason they cannot become the core of the team.

Danny Cowley, my choice for the next manager, and his assistant/brother Nick Cowley

          What comes next remains to be seen. But as the title suggests, this lark of sacking a manager after thirty-odd games is looking all too familiar at Forest...

          That's all for my first post of 2018. All being well I should be able to go back to my one post per week schedule with ease. Here's to a good year for Nottingham Forest, Ollerton Town and England. Until next time though,

Craig