Stoke 1 Forest 0 – 21/8/21 3pm
A brilliant team goal on 65 minutes gave Stoke the points, & left Forest in crisis at the bottom of the table. No time to be sentimental, Josh Tymon is the hero, scaring the hell out of Forest down the left, and finishing the goal superbly. Stoke 3rd. Here’s how this otherwise unremarkable game unfolded in real time:
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Yes, seventh place vs 23rd, and Stoke aren’t the club in 23rd!! Forest aren’t fooling anyone, and will play as if their life depends on it. So, Michael O’Neill is happy Super Mario Vrancic is back, but less happy that Nick Powell has a “knock”. Otherwise MON is micro-managing the side, switching in muscle-boy Brown for Surridge. New loan-boy Romaine “Tom” Sawyers joins the bench. A Stoke win will give them 10 points, their best start in 23 years.
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0.00 Bewilderingly ONE player decides not to take the knee, Lyle Taylor. Maybe he believes BLM is run by aliens that make your skin magnetic. or is that another organisation?
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2.01 Forest fans are so deaf they can’t hear the Stoke fans singing. This is a very worrying indication of the health situation in Nottingham. Should have gone to Spec-Savers (who do hearing tests too now). Out-sung Forest fans go very quiet.
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11.30 Leo and Harry pass the ball back and forth to confuse the easily confused Lyle Taylor. Eventually they loop the ball forward to Josh Tymon who terrorises down the left flank.
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26.55 Fletcher flattened in a Stoke counter attack, but ref waves play on. But it’s clear from Joe Allen’s response that Fletch is hurt. Yellow for Figueiredo, the well-known anagram.
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32.30 Hand ball by Bong in the area cuts no ice with the ref, but the replay is more convincing. Clucas decides to be animated in his plea, to no avail.
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HT Despite a late Stoke flurry, including a tame Fletch header for Samba to gather, it’s still 0-0. More than a bit dull.
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47.08 Brown is felled in the centre circle by McKenna…and the ref waves play on!! The replay is very damning for the ref.
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49.09 Stoke defenders are hussled off the ball. MON looks on in embarrassment. This is not going to plan for him.
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51.40 Ref is adamant that Stoke use the same ball when it goes out for a throw. No wastage here.
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Attendance 21,346, but they won’t be back without a win today! Not many options on the bench for Stoke. Surridge?
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60.02 Great move, leaves Fletch with a point blank chance to score. beaten away by keeper Samba. Brown then hits the side netting, and many think it’s a goal. The stadium comes alive.
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63.30 Great tackles by Joe Allen, one at the back on Mighten and the other up front on Cafu. Somehow the latter is penalised!
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65.25 1-0 !!!! A fabulous Stoke move, Smith in to Brown who dummies to Fletch who back-heals to Mario who sets up Josh Tymon to smash home from a tight angle! Deserved.
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70.45 Thompson on for Vrancic and Surridge on for Fletch.
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72.00 Forest fans turn on their manager, claiming they’re going down and the manager (Chris Hughton) is being sacked in the morning. Well, that’s not very nice. They then have a go at Stoke claiming City must be rubbish as it’s only 1-0!!!
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77.30 Stoke fans still booing keeper Samba, who has spent most of the game time-wasting. Not so much now, for some reason. Meanwhile Zinckernagel (another good anagram!) is feeling miffed, penalised for a foul on Ben Wilmot, when it wasn’t, then claiming Thompson fouled him, which he didn’t, then pulled up by the ref after fouling Thompson back, which he definitely did do. Not his day.
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85.02 Biggest cheer of the day is for the announcement that all trains to Nottingham have been cancelled. “Going home in a taxi” sing the Stoke fans, as a Forest free-click conceded by Clucas sails into the crowd. Romaine Sawyers comes on for his debut, replacing Clucas, just yellowed for that free-kick.
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87.30 Even Harry Souttar gets a yellow for a cynical tackle on the far right.
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89.30 Great news: replacement bus service for Forest fans to get home!
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90+1 Sawyers sets up Thompson for a great shot, turned away for a corner by Samba.
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Final score: Stoke 1 Forest 0
