Nottingham Forest 0 v Derby County 0 - EFL Championship

Sunday 11th March 2018

SkyBet EFL Championship

at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest (0) 0

Derby County (0) 0

Admission £26. Programme £3

Attendance: 29,106 (inc. 1,995 away)

Since I last saw Derby County in action, at St. Andrew's in January, when they beat Birmingham City 3-0, Gary Rowett's side have suffered a recent dip in form and have won just one of their nine previous games, although they have drawn six of them, meaning that they arrived at the home of their rivals sat in fifth place in the table, and still in contention for the Championship play offs.

Mid table Forest went into the game on the back of a five game unbeaten run, including a goalless draw at Norwich City in midweek, which followed on from them also beating Birmingham City 2-1 last weekend.

This is the third time that I've visited the City Ground in 2018 and at this rate I'll be getting my own corner table in the Bridgford Fish Bar & Restaurant, but to offset any allegations of geographical or culinary bias, I will also be visiting Pride Park again next weekend, when Neil Warnock's Cardiff City are the visitors... and it needs to be said, that the food available from the chip van behind the North Stand at Derby is pretty damn good too. 

Granted, a few tables and some waitress service wouldn't go amiss, but that's probably just me, morphing into food snob in my old age.

Joe Baker.
He scored twice in a 2-1 win for Arsenal against West Bromwich
Albion on Easter Monday 15/4/1963. The same day that I was born

To attempt to sum up the entertainment provided by these two teams at this afternoon's East Midlands derby clash, using just four words, I would opt for: 

High - octane - low - quality.

However, the atmosphere was excellent, as the fans, for the most part, made their own entertainment and exchanged 'pleasantries' and thinly disguised death threats all afternoon.

And when there wasn't much happening on the pitch itself, the seat that I had bagged for myself, right above (and on the periphery of) the two rival factions in the stands, made for some quite absorbing viewing from a great vantage point.

If you've never experienced such a level of mutually unbridled tribalism and animosity first hand... then you really don't know what you've been missing out on.

The Rams took an impressive 1,995 supporters to the City Ground, that's exactly four more than Birmingham City turned up with last weekend, so I would expect Nottingham Forest's accountant will be happy with the number of away fans who are making their way to West Bridgford upon Trent of late.

The game itself, not to put too fine a point on it, was one big frantic mess... at least, that is one of the f words you could use to describe it.

'Fairly unspectacular' was what the local radio station called it, in their post match summary.

The Forest manager Aitor Karanka, has obviously been rebuilding his side and prioritising the defensive spine of his side. And to that end, moving Danny Fox inside to the left of central defence from the left back position, since his return from injury is working a treat, especially with Tobias Figueiredo performing so competently alongside him; not to mention the inspired form of Costel Pantilimon in goal behind them.
The confidence that this trio have in each other is  plain to see and spreads throughout the team, where Karanka still has work to do, but if he can hold on to the aforementioned three players and build from the back in preparation for next season, then it all bodes well for the red half of Nottingham.

I don't think that even the most dyed in the wool reds fan could dispute that Derby were the better side on the day and showed a bit more guile and imagination than their hosts, who themselves registered zero on target efforts on goal all afternoon, and only got anywhere near scoring when Lee Tomlin smashed a blistering long range effort wide of the post.
Whereas the Rams would've been in front shortly before half time, if it hadn't been for Pantilimon pulling off a great double save to thwart David Nugent and Tom Lawrence, the latter of who was denied by the Romanian national team keeper, turning the ball over the bar with his outstretched leg. At six foot, eight inches tall, it would be fair to say that the Forest goalie has a good reach.

Derby picked up the pace in the second half, especially after Gary Rowett unselfconsciously emerged from the dug out to reveal a pair of really crap trainers he was wearing to the watching world (he must've won a bet of some sort, to have been wearing such awful footwear in public) and made a double substitution, with David Nugent and Ikechi Anya, making way for Cameron Jerome and Kasey Palmer, the latter of who immediately set about providing an element of fleet footed trickery to spice up a previously rather dull game.

But when the visitors were reduced to ten men after Tom Huddlestone was dismissed for a second bookable offence, with ten minutes remained, the brief interlude of fun and games ceased, as two defensive minded managers both set out their stall to avoid defeat. Derby adopted a cautious approach in the closing stages to preserve a point, while Forest seemed happy enough to let them and take the draw themselves too.
In my humble opinion, the Rams best player on the day was Andre Wisdom, linking up well between the defence and midfield and at least trying to give his side some momentum going forward. While Ben Watson and Matty Cash, both put a decent shift in, right in the middle of the park for Karanka's side.
There's not much else I can add really.
FT: Nottingham Forest 0 v Derby County 0

Nottingham Forest travel to Bramall Lane next Saturday to face Sheffield United, while Derby County host Neil Warnock's Cardiff City on Sunday lunch time, as they look to make a dent in the eleven point lead that the Bluebirds have over them in the Championship table.