I think the Blackburn fans must’ve known what was coming given the amount of empty seats at Ewood Park last night. It wasn’t a classic by any stretch was it? In all fairness it wasn’t the worst game either. ‘Meh’ would probably be a decent description.
Let’s not take anything away though from picking up a point at one of our many bogey grounds. In years gone by, Forest lose that game 1-0 in a contest that neither side had really done enough to win outright.
The biggest thing I took from the game is that Forest are far from the finished article and that there’s plenty of room for improvement. Without wanting to sound too critical; much of Forest’s play was littered with sloppiness.It prevented us from gaining any real momentum that has served us so well in recent games.
It almost started with a bang as Joe Lolley almost forced in a goal from close range in the opening minute. It was the kind of chance you wanted to fall to Lewis Grabban but Joe still forced a decent block to prevent his effort from going in.
The game was a little stale in that nobody could really get going. Adam Armstrong was probably the better player of the half as he gave Matty Cash a tough time out on the left wing. Midway through the first half, he put in an inviting ball; right across the Forest 6 yard box that thankfully nobody wanted to get on the end of. It would have been a tap in for sure. Moments later, Bradley Dack should have done better when a cross fell into his path just inside the box but he fluffed his shot. At the other end, decent work by Samba Sow from a jinking run ended with Lewis Grabban hitting a tame shot that didn’t trouble Walton. All of that action kind of summed up the first half; ‘drab’ was my assessment.
Forest had been so careless with the ball at times and some of our first/second touches (notably Ameobi) looked like Sunday morning stuff (playing with a hangover)! After about the 3rd occurrence of heavy touches, Sammi’s frustration got the better of him after sloppily losing the ball. In trying to win it back (and achieving it fairly), the ref didn’t see it that way and couldn’t wait to get his yellow card out. A poor challenge on Ribeiro looked a lot worse earlier in the half that that he didn’t seem half as bothered about. At least the officials are consistent in The Championship. I’ll leave it there.
The biggest positive from the half was Ben Watson who had done well to break up a number of Blackburn attacks and helped us retain possession with some simple passing.
The 2nd half started with a cracking effort from Watson who wasn’t too far away with a rising drive after a promising Forest attack had been cleared for a corner. Just as we were threatening to get on top, Blackburn got back into the game with Stewart Downing still showing his quality in the twilight of his career. The game ebbed between the two sides with nobody showing quite enough quality to make the breakthrough.
I was slightly taken aback with Blackburn’s goal as it had come somewhat out of the blue. A neat passing Forest move had broken down at the other end and in about two passes, Armstrong found himself through on goal to score at the second time of asking, getting a lucky ricochet off Jack Robinson’s last ditch tackle. Could we have done better with the goal? Yes, I think so. To get carved apart by a few passes was a concern and I’m not sure both Joe Worrall and Jack Robinson had to go to ground as Armstrong bore down on goal. Keepers shouldn’t be beaten at their near post but given the ricochet, I’ll give Brice the benefit of the doubt.
Just as I was wondering about how we were going to get back into the game, Joe Lolley popped up with a cracking goal straight after the restart. Boom! It was vintage Joe as he engineered enough space away from Blackburn’s defenders to find the bottom corner with a good hit. I didn’t think it flattered Forest and a point was definitely a fair reflection up to that point in the game. Joe had a better game last night and looked our biggest threat. Hopefully he’s warming up for full throttle on Saturday.
If there were any question marks about Brice Samba on the goal, he leapt into life for the final ten minutes as Blackburn began to pose a greater threat. Forest’s substitutions had left us a little lightweight with the introduction of Carvalho, Silva and Adomah but we managed to hold on. I’m not going to complain too much about the changes as they were clearly made with the intention of winning the game. Defeat would’ve been cruel on Sabri in that sense. Samba was called into action on a few occasions towards the end but the saves were more routine to make than anything else. It did give him the opportunity to carry out a bit more posturing; which he seems to enjoy. Brice is becoming a dab hand at running down the clock but he’s definitely pushing the limits of gamesmanship. Joe Worrall made a cracking tackle at the death to secure a point and Forest will have come away the happiest of the two teams at full time.
It was a decent point which will look even better if we can pick up a win on Saturday. It may well be an even bigger point towards the business end of the season. Sabri seemed happy enough and if the boss is happy; I’m happy. In Sabri, we trust.
I’m looking forward to Saturday already in which should be a decent spectacle against Brentford. Come on you Red uns!!
RATINGS
TEAM PERFORMANCE – 6 – Forest weren’t great and weren’t shocking either. Plenty of effort to pick up a point.
SAMBA – 7. Another composed performance. Personifies calmness and it’s a quality we have lacked in our defensive unit.
CASH – 6. Fought hard
ROBINSON – 6 Steady enough
WORRALL – 7 – Big tackle at the end. Big boy performance without his Dad next to hm.
FIGUERIDO – 6 – No frills performance from Tobi. Solid.
SOW – 6 – Not his best game and seemed to be over doing it a times. That said, he got an assist for the goal.
WATSON – 7 – Excellent marshalling the defence – edged Man of the Match.
RIBEIRO – 6 – Couldn’t really get going in position further up the pitch.
LOLLEY – 6 – Couple of good touches and a great goal. Still not quite finding the consistency to his play but it’s coming.
AMEOBI – 5 – Frustrating night.
GRABBAN – 6 – Didn’t have much to go off. Couple of tame efforts.
SUBS
ADOMAH – 5 – Almost found himself through on goal for the winner.
CARVALHO -6 – Some nice touches as per usual but we need to see him causing more damage in games like this.
SILVA – 5- Can’t remember him touching the ball!