Nottingham Forest - 2 (Dawson 4. Harewood 59.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson pen 75.)

Palace went into this match on the back of a fine win against Liverpool at Anfield, and despite having to travel twice in the week, and facing higher opposition (League wise), they must surely have been confident of getting something out of the match. As things transpired, they got off to the worst possible start, and never really recovered throughout the early evening.

Only four minutes had elapsed when Forest won a corner. The ball was steered in by Andrew Reid, John Thompson got the faintest of flicks onwards, and Matthew Dawson rose above the defence to head home the ball - we were 1-0 down, and facing a mountain to climb. A shot by Marlon Harewood went wide of the mark, whilst at the other end Hayden Mullins put a pass in to Dele Adebola, but he just overran the ball, and the chance was wasted.

Cedric came well out of his area to clear the next chance to the home side, before Julian Gray blocked the next forward move. A corner to Palace saw a little pressure on the home side, but again the chances went begging, and it was left to Shaun Derry to make a saving tackle on Gareth Williams to once again deny the potent Forest attack.

Another corner to Palace was cleared by the Forest defence, and we won yet another from the boot of Andy Johnson. He missed the chance from the corner, and as the ball made its' way back to him he shot it tamely straight to the keeper. A good chance to the home side followed, as Reid looped the ball over the head of Cedric Berthelin, the chance going just over the top instead of falling nicely for the attacker.

David Johnson got a cross into the centre, Harewood sending the chance wide once more, then Hayden and Dougie Freedman combined well at the other end, the offside flag denying them a chance at glory.

Tony Popovic made a brilliant defensive header when the ball came back to our end of the park, and Dawson made a defensive tackle to deny Julian a shot on goal. Mathieu Louis-Jean was booked for a foul on Andy and the free kick, taken by Shaun, hit the bar and Dele hit the rebound just wide of the sticks. Cedric then had to save another shot from Harewood, and Shaun made a good tackle to deny Reid when he looked clear on goal. A corner to the home side was well claimed by Cedric, whilst a corner at the other end saw AJ head the ball over the top of the crossbar.

Another corner, won by Dele, was wasted by the Palace attack, and with little further action the half came to an end, with Palace still trailing 1-0. Trevor Francis would have been pleased with the number of opportunities the side had made towards the latter periods of the half, but the finishing touches need to be applied by someone at the front of the Palace attack.

Palace got the second half underway, and won a couple of corners, the second of which saw Dele head just wide, and yet another corner found Julian blasting the ball well over the top of the bar. Dele then ran a fair length of the field before his shot went just wide of the post, and a free kick to the home side saw Ricardo Scimeca hit the ball over the top of the bar once more.

Tommy Black came on for Dougie, and his first touch saw him race down the left and fire in a good cross that was well cleared by the defence. Harewood then showed how to make a brilliant individual goal. Bringing the ball down he raced past Tony and Kit Symons before blasting the ball into the back of the net from an acute angle, the scoreline now reading 2-0, and surely no way back for Palace.

A shot into the side netting by AJ had the Palace faithful hopeful for a moment, then Scimeca hit a shot wide down at the other end. Trevor decided it was time to make a couple of changes, bringing on Steve Thomson and Ade Akinbiyi to replace Tony and Kit, so the side now had a far greater attacking look about it, hopefully at not too much expense to the defence.

Darren cut out a good chance to Harewood, and Louis-Jean brought down AJ in the area, the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Was this our chance to get back into the game? AJ stepped up to the mark, and duly drilled the ball home. We were definitely back in with a show now.

Harewood headed a chance wide of the post before Cedric pulled off a fine save from the same player. Forest made their own substitution, Reid making way for Chris Doig, as Forest looked to maintain their lead. Ade got a touch on the ball that the keeper managed to save, whilst a corner at the other end saw Harewood again blast the ball wide of the post.

Ade just failed to get to the ball before the keeper, but then Forest started to play possession football in an attempt to run down the clock. Harewood was caught offside, and a final corner to Palace was wasted. A free kick was cleared by the Forest defence, and with little further action the final whistle sounded to bring a close to the match, and the chance to climb the table for Palace had been lost.

We now look forward to the Cup-tie against Leeds next Saturday - but the League fixtures are starting to pile up. Let's hope we can fit some of those in soon, and get back on track for at least a play-off position soon.

Colin Pryce

Nottingham Forest: Darren Ward, Jim Brennan, Michael Dawson, Jon Olav Hjelde, Mathieu Louis-Jean, Ricardo Scimeca, John Thompson, Gareth Williams, Marlon Harewood, David Johnson, Andrew Reid (Christopher Doig 79).

Substitutes not used: Barry Roche, Eugen Bopp, Eoin Jess, Craig Westcarr.

Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic (Ade Akinbiyi 72), Darren Powell, Kit Symons (Steve Thomson 72), Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry, Julian Gray, Dele Adebola, Dougie Freedman (Tommy Black 57), Andrew Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Danny Granville.

Attendance: 26,012

Referee: Mr G Poll (Tring)