Nottingham Forest - 2 (Rogers 11. Quashie 51)
Crystal Palace - 0

This match was always going to be a hard fought encounter, as both teams find themselves in an unenviable position at the wrong end of the table. Forest was coming off the back of a good win against Walsall last week, whilst we could only manage a point against Sheffield United. With last week's game being the only home fixture for the month, Steve Coppell would have been anxious to pick up some points on our travels. Forest, of course, was just as desperate for the points, and though we took the points at Selhurst, today was to prove to be Forest's.

It appeared from the start of the match that Palace were going to be content in simply stopping Forest from scoring, and some of the tackling left a little to be desired. Had the referee taken more action, against either side, things may have turned out differently. One of these tackles led to a free kick, and Alan Rogers took the kick, and with Tony Vaughan and Steve Mautone both missing the ball Forest found themselves 1-0 up. Palace's claims that Steve Mautone was impeded fell on deaf ears.

A foul by Marlon Harewood on Simon Rodger finally brought a yellow card, but Hayden Mullins managed to also get himself booked for showing dissent. A number of good moves by the home side saw Mautone doing well to keep out Matthieu Louis-Jean and David Prutton. Palace put on a bit of a show late in the half when Jamie Fullarton and Clinton Morrison both forced corners, but Palace were unable to capitalise. A long range shot from stand-in captain Chris Bart-Williams signaled the end of the first half, and Palace were probably fortunate to go in at only 1-0 down.

At the start of the second period of play Morrison made a good move on goal, but consistently he managed to get himself offside – he really must learn to curb this tendency! Harewood missed an easy chance on goal, but Forest was not to be denied. From yet another free kick Rogers floated the ball in to an unmarked Nigel Quashie, who had a simple task to head the ball into the back of the net from the far post. At 2-0 Forest were never going to be pulled back, and towards the end they really should have made the scoreline a little more flattering.

Good efforts by Jack Lester and ex-Palace player Dougie Freedman were well denied by Mautone in goal, and without him the result could well have been a lot worse.

After the game Steve Coppell was upset about the first goal being awarded, but admitted that both goals came about due to needless tackles by the team. One can feel sure that he will be looking for a vastly improved performance next week at Blundell Park.

Colin Pryce

Nottingham Forest: Dave Beasant, Matthieu Louis-Jean, Alan Rogers, Jon Olav Hjelde, Tony Vaughan, David Prutton, Chris Bart-Williams, Nigel Quashie, Andy Johnson, Marlon Harewood (Dougie Freedman 78), Jack Lester.

Substitutes not used: Mark Crossley, Andy Gray, Carlos Merino, Kevin Dawson.

Crystal Palace: Steve Mautone, Jamie Smith (Andrew Martin 34), Dean Austin, David Woozley, Hayden Mullins, Fan Zhiyi, Jamie Fullarton (Nick Rizzo 73), Andy Linighan, Simon Rodger, Clinton Morrison, Wayne Carlisle.

Substitutes not used: Matthew Gregg, James Hibburt, Craig Foster.

Attendance: 16,421

Referee: Mr G.B. Frankland (Middlesbrough).