|
There was a lot of attacking football, with Andy Reid involved in most of it for Forest. For Crewe it was Vaughan and Ashton who made it tick, Vaughan was showing his skill when weaving his way past a helpless Forest side. Ashton meanwhile picked up everything in his usual style.
Forest had the best chance of the game when Reid's shot was headed off the line but it wasn't long before the ball was in the back of the net. Only it was for Mark Rivers to tally his 2nd goal of the season. It was a Billy cross to the near post that had Dean and Rivo in a muddle 18 yards out before Rivers stuck out a foot and rolled it into the bottom left corner.
It was a deserved goal from our point of view. The performance was much more 'clean cut' than we've seen in the previous two games and such an improvement in the midfield for them to really trouble the opposition - for once. Rivers and Ashton were making intelligent runs, and both used their strength to get to the ball first and frustrate Forest. In the midfield Cochrane was his usual tiring self whilst Sorvel was playing exceptional in his role.
The usually deafening Forest fans were silent since Rivo's goal, whilst the Alex comfortably dealt with any attacks from Forest and were looking to create something on the counter. Unfortunately for us there was little in the way of openings in the final third.
It didn't seem likely Forest would get anything but defensive frailties typically allowed Forest back into it. David Johnson took it forward, played a one two with Jess and got into the area, Foz did well to tackle him but the loose ball only went to a unmarked Gareth Taylor who just placed his shot into the bottom left corner.
After that, for five minutes at the most, you felt like we were about to lose it and, with Forest fans behind their team, Forest would take advantage. Fortunately for us, Dean Ashton and Mark Rivers stepped up to re-light the Alex flame.
A cross from Keith Briggs was headed down to Vaughan, by Ashton, Vaughan hit a shot-cum-cross low which Rivers slid onto at the far post. His initial shot hit the post before he scrambled it over the line at a second asking. Forest fans and players claimed handball, and that the ball had gone out from Briggs's cross but the referee waved any appeal away. We could have extended our lead in the first half from a corner but Rich Walker's snap shot was blocked on the line ... by Mark Rivers.
After the encouraging first half performance it was only right that the second half choked up a, shall we say, defensive performance. Despite many fans bemoaning it, we were still excellent. The defence held Forest off for most of the second half when Forest dominated. Balls whizzed across the goal and long shots were being hit but nothing was getting past them, apart from Marlon King's header of course.
Lets say Forest had A LOT of chances, so lets concentrate on Crewe. 'tis a Crewe site after all. Between the Forest attacks there were openings for Crewe, mainly down to Vaughan and Ashton again. Ashton found an opening, on the counter attack, down the right and just inside the area fired his shot to Gerrards left - only for it to be matched by Gerrard. Vaughan also had a chance but Gerrard was also equal to his volley.
It was then, after much pressure, substitute Marlon King headed home. It was more defensive errors from the Alex, all down to just poor play and marking from the Alex that allowed Louis-Jean to cross for Marlon King to send a looping header into the left corner from a good 20 yards.
It was a gutting goal to concede and at the worst time, with 30 minutes to go you knew there was more than enough time for Forest to get one, or two, more.
Prior to the goal Keith Briggs went off for Anthony Tonkin, after Briggs received a hard time for Andy Reid for most of the game. It allowed Billy to man mark Reid whilst Tonks covered the left back spot. After the goal Dario made a brave change, Dean Ashton went off for Michael Higdon and a few minutes later Rivo was swapped with Steve Jones.
The substitutions weren't that inspirational though. Forest smelt blood and pressured, as was the norm by now. A few times Reid and Rogers got in behind the Crewe defence and fired across the face of the goal - coming so close to putting them ahead. Thankfully they never kept their nerve and for the final five minutes we played keep ball to keep the draw.
We've dropped into the bottom three but at this stage it means absolutely nothing. What means something is being TOP SCORERS in the league, the meant-to-be flop that is Mark Rivers being 'The Champion's' TOP SCORER... but then we have also conceded the most goals and we have thrown away two leads in three matches.
So the obvious is to tighten the defensive line up before it gets out of hand. Can I blame Walker?
Player Ratings;
Ben Williams - 6 - Another decent performance from Ben, but kicking was rather suspect. No fault for goals.
Keith Briggs - 4 - Not a good game for Briggsy. Got taken apart by Andy Reid's 'silky skills'. Knowing Dario, we won't see Briggs again.
Steve Foster - 6 - Held the line well, nothing too spectacular but kept Johnson and Taylor away from goal, which is good enough.
Richard Walker - 6 - Same as Foz. Still doesn't fill me with confidence.
Billy Jones - 6 - Had a fine game at left back, up to his usual standard. Had a test against Andy Reid but at Billy's age you couldn't ask for more from him.
Kenny Lunt - 6 - A few passes went astray. Wasn't up to his usual standard.
Justin Cochrane - 6 - Huffed and puffed alot but rarely made a name for himself. Needs to get 'stuck in' more without going over the top.
Neil Sorvel - 8 - Dare I say he is MOTM contender? Top performance from Neil. Made himself available all over the pitch, closed down Forest at every opportunity and made a couple of brilliant passes forward.
David Vaughan - 7 - Seems to be consistent at being inconsistent. Fades in and out of matches far too much. When on form he was covering for Billy well and his runs were breath taking. When he dropped his head he was no where to be seen.
Dean Ashton - 7 - Another fine performance. The ultimate striker. Within reason he has scored one and set up four in our five goals this season, although stats won't show that. Expect so much more from Dean!
Mark Rivers - 7 - Well, what were you expecting? A past it Rivo? Currently topping the goalscorers chart for 'The Championship'. Has learnt the knack of poaching scrappy goals. Getting better with every game, and like Ashton - expect more from Rivo. I think if we played 4-3-3 we may see loads more goals from Rivo (and Dean & Jonah) with Jones coming off the wing.