[Archived] Rovers vs Forest Saturday 10th August 3pm Kick Off

[Jamesw1982]

SO, the first home game of the season is here and how ive missed it. After a rather (dare i say it) sensible summer, our first home game will be 1 of the toughest tests we face at ewood park all year. Nottingham Forest are strongly being tipped for promotion not just by fans and pundits, but also by myself.

I cant help but think a good result hear will give not just the players a massive boost but the fans could get a real feleing that we could actually acheive what many thought was impossible.

HISTORY:

Nottingham Forest were Founded in 1865. After winning the former Football Alliance way back in 1889 they were allowed entry into the Football League.

Nottingham Forest have worn red since the club’s foundation in 1865. At the meeting in the Clinton Arms which established Nottingham Forest as a football club, the committee also passed a resolution that the team colours should be red.

They won their first trophy in 1898 winning the FA Cup after beating Derby County 3-1 in the final. For most of the first half of the 20th century they played outside the top division, regaining their top division status in 1957, which then led to their 2nd FA Cup win in 1959.

Then came The Clough Era. Brian Clugh took over when Forest were a 2nd Division Side. Within 2 years he had gained promotion back to the first division. 1 Year later and Cloughie guided them to their first and only league triumph. 12 months later Cloughie had guided Forest to the European Cup beating Malmo 1-0 in the final. The following year they retained the trophy beating Hamburg 1-0 in the Santiago Bernabau. hey also won the European Super Cup and 2 League Cups.

Forest didnt win a single trophy after these glory years until 1989 when they beat Luton Town to lift another League Cup which they retained a year later beating Oldham Athletic. This was to be Cloughies last major trophy as manager and after relegation from the Premier League in 1993 Brian Clough and nottingham Forest parted company.

The following years consisted of promotions and relegations from the top flight. SInce 2000 they havent been back to the Premier League.

RIVALRIES:

Although Notts County is the closest team geographically to Forest, there most pierce rivals are Derby County. The 2 clubs contest the Brian Clough Trophy.

Leicester City are another East midlands rival. This is due to the proximity of the 2 cities.

Forest's other regional rival is Sheffield United, based in the neighbouring county of South Yorkshire, a rivalry which has roots in the UK miners' strike 1984-85 when the miners of South Yorkshire walked out on long strikes but the Notts Miners, who insisted on holding a ballot, continued to work.

FAMOUS FANS:

Stuart Broad (cricketer)

Carl Froch (Boxer)

Lee Westwood (Golfer)

Kenneth Clarke (Politician)

James Dean Braffrield (singer from the Manic Street Preachers)

Jason Statham (Actor)

Matt Forde (Comedian)

Su Pollard (Actress)

ROVERS/FOREST LINKS:

Gary Bowyer - Rovers current boss is a former Forest player.

Matty Derbyshire - Former Rovers star now plies his trade at the County Ground

Duncan McKenzie - Started his career at Forest (69-74) before moving to Ewood in 1978.

Franz Carr - Started his career at Ewood but never played a first team game and was signed by Notts Forest.

Lars Bohinen - Signed for Blackburn from Forest in 1995

(cant think of any more off top of my head but if any1 has any more feel free to post)

HEAD TO HEAD:

Overall the sides have met 99 times

Rovers have won 45

Forest 29

25 Draws

At Ewood there has been 49 Matches

Rovers have won 25

Forest 9

15 Draws

PREDICTION:

Home form is gonna be key this season for me however this will be one of the toughest home games we play all season. So im plumping for a 2-2 draw

[blueboy3333]

Thanks james, nice to get a proper 'nottingham' review.

It will be Tricky against the Trees but i'm going for a 1-0 home win based on a big dollop of hope, a slice of luck and a sprinkling of Jordan Rhodes.

[Jamesw1982]

first one ive done figured id give it a go as no1 else was down to do it

Hope your right pal

[Tom]

Pinned

My favourite and least favourite forest moments respectively (think these were forest) was the game when we had coors as a sponsor and Crossley had a striker nearly throwing a Colin Hendry header in on a terrible pitch and Jason Wilcox being sent off for rolling the ball about 3 feet after realising it wasn't our throw

Real tough game this but I'm going for 3-1 to Rovers, Rhodes with two and Best with one.

I saw enough on Sunday to think that with time Best will be an ideal foil for Rhodes given time together providing he can leave the attitude to one side

[bazza]

Thanks for the preview, James. Excellent statistics.

Just one thing............I'm a right stickler for pronouncing the names of football clubs correctly and was once hauled over the coals by my brother-in-law for saying Notts Forest. They are always Nottingham Forest, never Notts Forest.

Notts play cricket and have a football team called County.

Rovers to win 2-0

[onlyonejackwalker]

Thanks for the preview. Anticipating a good game and hoping we can start well at home. Forest are well managed, have good players and will bring a decent away following. I think we may sneak it by the odd goal. 2-1.

[Ossydave]

Still remember that last time we played them early in the season, may have been first game, maybe Arsenal was, premier league new boys at the time and crossley threw it in his own net.

[K-Hod]

I seem to recall a game where we put 7 past them. Good days.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

1-0

15,600

[roverandout]

either 1-1 or 2-1 to forest.

worst memory for me was that must win game against them in '99 and we lost

[Ossydave]

I remember smashing them about 6-1 away, pineapple head was playing cos he got abused all day and ended up being subbed, filled our end that day (standard back then)

[tomphil]

1 - 1 Alan Judge for us.

14,873 (1500+ Forest)

[Sparky Marky]

Must win game for Bowyer. Pressure will be on with no wins in 5 and a tough away game at Doncaster....wonder how long venkys will give him

[blueboy3333]

Must win game for Bowyer. Pressure will be on with no wins in 5 and a tough away game at Doncaster....wonder how long venkys will give him

You don't have to be mental to post here...

[JAL]

Must win game for Bowyer. Pressure will be on with no wins in 5 and a tough away game at Doncaster....wonder how long venkys will give him

How long do we give Venkys more like ?

[West Yorks Rover]

2 -1 OR even 3 -1

15,800 (2,300)

Taylor,Rhodes if Rhodes gets 2( 1 pen)

[RibbleValleyRover]

This will be a good test to see if Rovers have made any real improvement since last season and whether or not they are really ready to make a promotion push. Billy Davies knows this league and knows how to get out it and I expect Forest to be up there challenging for promotion come the end of the season.

I think they will score past us, so it just depends how many and whether we can respond. Going for a 2-2 draw with Forest taking the lead and Rovers coming back with a few mins left to go to equalise.

[tonyoz]

From last week against Derby:

All IMO of course. E&OE.

O Instance of very good play

O instance of decent play

O Disappointing or poor play

O Terrible play

h hoof upfield

Kean OOO

Kane OOOOOOOhhhhh

Dann OOOOOOOOOhhhh

Hanley OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Spurr OOOOOOOOhh

King OOOOOOO

Judge OOOOOOh

Marrow OOOOOOOOOh

Lowe OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh

Rochina OOOOOO

Rhodes OOOOOOO

Best OOOOOOOOOOOO

Taylor OOO

Dunn

Cairney O

[cn174]

first one ive done figured id give it a go as no1 else was down to do it

Hope your right pal

Thanks:)

Lars bohinen was one of my favourite players. he'd be good for our midfield now.

[the original david brent]

Perhaps I am being optimistic but I was hoping for 17000 plus attendance.

Forest could bring 3k plus.

We may be up to 11k season ticket holders by now? The 10k figure was announced at the start of last week.

3k walk ons, taking into account it's first home game

[Daremz]

This is going to be very, very tough. Can't see us getting more than a lucky draw here, but with all the optimism around here, it'll probably end up in a dissapointment. Rovers 1 (Dann) - Forest 2. Attendance 14.731 (2.116 away fans).

[BigBar]

Very nervous already even with it being the first game of the season...if we play the right team, defend alot better than the other night which i think Kane, Dann, Hanley and Spurr will i can see a solid draw or maybe a 1-0 Rovers win

[xtp]

I think we've got a major selection issue for this match. Lowe is possibly our only fit centre midfielder.

Cairney - suspended

Evans - probably still injured

Marrow - went off injured against Carlisle

Williamson - injured

Dunn - just played ninety minutes and isn't likely to last another ninety three days later

Without a centre midfield, it's going to be pretty difficult to get anything from the match.

[JAL]

Fortress Ewood home win as it should be for every home game.

Kane needs to pull his socks up and get on his game for this one, Lowe, can he hit the opponents eighteen yard line and stop slowing the play down by passing backwards, can Marrow judge the flight of a cross properly and not loose his man in the process, plus can King play effective football and use his pace to good effect.

No excuses.

[Mike E]

Fortress Ewood home win as it should be for every home game.

Kane needs to pull his socks up and get on his game for this one, Lowe, can he hit the opponents eighteen yard line and stop slowing the play down by passing backwards, can Marrow judge the flight of a cross properly and not loose his man in the process, plus can King play effective football and use his pace to good effect.

No excuses.

Excuses may come on the day (ref etc). Other than that, I actually agree.

Whatever happened to keeping away fans up in the Gods? Was wondering this last night while watching '10yrs at the Top'.