FOREST IN A DIFFERENT CLASS AS WEDNESDAY CRASH

Wednesday 1 (0) Nottingham Forest 7 (2)

Referee K Wilkie

Att: 30,060

Wednesday: Pressman; Petrescu, Walker, Pearce, Nolan; Bart-Williams, Sheridan (Whittingham), Hyde, Sinton; Bright, Waddle; unused subs: Woods, Watts

Forest: Crossley; Lyttle, Cooper, Chettle, Pearce; Stone, Bohenan, Phillips, Woan (McGregor?); Colleymore, Roy;

A bright sunny day, albeit very breezy, greeted the two teams at Hillsborough. Forest were on a six match unbeaten run with Wednesday having lost six of the last eight and the last three home matches. Atherton was serving a one match ban so Petrescu played right back, and Waddle was preferred up front instead of Whittingham. Forest were at full strength with Phillips coming through his fitness test. Wednesday lost the toss and attacked the Kop in the first half.

It was a reasonably full Hillsborough and for once there was a bit of atmosphere about the ground. Forest had filled both the Upper West Stand and the North-West terrace and both sets of fans were in fine voice. It was end to end stuff for the first fifteen minutes; Roy pulled the ball across the face of the goal and Bohenan was inches away from putting it in. Wednesday then broke and Bright was played a delightful through ball to run on to. All he had to do was outpace the centre half and slam it into the net. Instead he stopped on the edge of the box and was dispossed without even making the simple layoff to Bart-man who was supporting.

Forest then put the ball across the face of the Wednesday goal again, Walker being inches away from turning it in. Wednesday also had another chance when Waddle played an excellent ball into the box which was always bending away from the keeper but the shot which came in was blocked by a defender. It all started to go wrong after fifteen minutes. Sinton was tugging on Stone's shirt and gave away a free kick on the Forest right about 3 yards outside the area. Pearce stood over the ball and somehow managed to hit it into the far top corner of the Wednesday goal, bending it round the wall. It was unstoppable.

Wednesday had been playing offside a lot of the time, a dangerous thing to do with Roy and Colleymore about, not to mention Bohenan, Woan and Stone who all have differing degrees of pace, and shortly after the opening goal Wednesday were caught out. Earlier Roy had been away and wasted his chance as he was through with just Pressman to beat, but Woan didn't do the same. Colleymore had dragged Walker wide and Pearce just stood and watched as Woan ran from deep, with pace, and curved the ball around Pressman and into the net.

2-0 and the chants for the sacking of the manager started. That wasn't really what the team needed, and when Bart-Williams miscontrolled a pass and it went out for a goal kick you could clearly see the look of disgust on his face towards the fans who were barracking him. Forest were comfortable at two up, and try as Wednesday might they couldn't get the final shot in around the box. It wasn't that Wednesday were that poor - it was certainly a better first half performance than there's been for a number of games - Forest were just superior. They looked dangerous with every attack, and a move down the left left the Wednesday defence in tatters and Roy hitting his shot against the bar.

The best chance to get one back fell to Bart-Williams, who hit his shot against the post after Waddle and knocked the ball to the by-line for Sinton to cross and Bright to flick on. It should really have been a goal. Forest continued to look dangerous, the most frightening thing being the pace they possessed in the front two, Roy especially. This coupled with three midfield players making runs behind the front two and Wednesday were in for a real hiding.

Half time came and went and no changes were made to the side. Obviously TF thought they could pull it back as they were. Any suggestions of that were ruled out in the opening minutes of the second half. The ball was worked up the middle of the pitch with precision passing into space by Forest, and as Bohenan ran though unchallenged against Pressman it was the simplest of passes to Roy which set the goal up. Five minutes later Wednesday were handed a brief chance to get back into the game when Sinton was challenged in the box and the referee gave a penalty. It looked a pretty inoccuous challenge from the Kop but you can't tell over that distance. The crowd around me thought the ref was feeling sorry for Wednesday! Bright spotted the ball and placed it to Crossley's left with the keeper going the other way. At last a successful penalty, but the joy was short lived.

Forest had a shout for a penalty of their own as Nolan challenged Roy as he was closing in on goal, but the referee waved the appeal away, and he was closely placed. However, from where I was sat it looked as if contact had been made with the player and not the ball so Wednesday were a tad fortunate. From the following attack Waddle took the ball up the middle of the pitch and had a shot go inches wide of the right hand post.

Forest's fourth was Roy's second; again after some neat quick passing from midfield the ball was crossed deep and fell to Roy on the right, inside the area and at a fairly acute angle. He controlled it well and sent his shot under Pressman and into the net. 4-1 was pretty bad as home performances go, but Forest were only just beginning to turn on the style, and by the end of the game they were given a standing ovation from the Kop.

Francis took Sheridan off and replaced him with Whittingham, and still Wednesday pressed forward, but the final finishing in the box was laughable at times - if you didn't laugh it would be too much to bear.

At one end of the ground Colleymore was scoring, first through a shot from the edge of the box which he managed to put past two defenders and the keeper into the far corner of the net - a cracking goal and a real striker's one. Then from a Wednesday attack which broke down, Roy raced down the field to get on the end of the long ball, he pulled it back to Colleymore inside the six yard box, who was under pressure from a defender, and despite missing his first chance he put it away at the second attempt. That made it six.

At the other end of the field Mark Bright had two golden chances to score from corners. The first he managed to miss from one yard and succeeded in clearing the ball when it looked so easy to score, and then with Waddle playing a delightful cross goal pass, Bright somehow failed to connect at the far post, again one yard out! Oh for a Colleymore of our own.

The icing on the cake was down to Bohenan. Yet another pacey Forest attack, three midfielders involved, each needing just one touch of the ball, the final one being a volley from Bohenan from outside the box which flew over Pressman's outstretched fingers and dipped into the far corner of the net. That made it seven, Wednesday's biggest home defeat for a long while.

The reasons for Forests success were only too plain to see - they had genuine pace in their team and defended well when they had to. Whenever Wednesday broke it was so slow that by the time the ball was in the danger area all the Forest defenders were back and well placed. Forest however broke at will, and at times had so many options it was embarrassing.

The chants for the sacking of Francis were heard again at the end of the match, and I've heard it rumoured that Mrs Francis has been looking at accommodation in the Genoa area. Let's hope TF doesn't leave us with relegation as a parting present - a victory against Leciester next week is now vital - if that match is lost then who knows. Maybe Grimsby next year in the league rather than just the reserves.