April 21 Nottingham Forest 3-0 AFC Bournemouth Att: 19898

Last updated : 22 April 2007 By Andy Burton
A surprise change saw Gareth Stewart start the game, replacing Neil Moss, who, I assume, had aggravated his ankle which almost kept him out last week.

The match started fairly well for Bournemouth, but a lack of cutting edge meant that Forest had little to deal with. The same was also true at the other end of the pitch as Forest didn't trouble Stewart too much despite having the better possession.

Gareth Stewart was called in to action to make a great double save, little did he realise that the flag had been raised for off-side on 13 minutes. Up the far end of the pitch from the vocal Cherries support, Marc Wilson had a shot deflected. Sadly the effort was cut out and only resulted in a throw in. A Jamie Hayter was fired well over the bar on 18 minutes.

Still Forest continued to press, but still they didn't show a great deal, but that all changed with their first real shot on target from Commons who rifled home a rasping shot, from distance, which left Stewart stranded as the ball nestled in by the far past. Could the defence and Stewart have done better? Probably is the answer!

From defence, Bournemouth sped up field to force a great save from the Forest keeper. Shame the effort didn't amount to much.

Summerfield was withdrawn from the match on 28 minutes, with Cooper coming on in his place. Not an obvious injury, so assume that the change was tactical.

It all went horribly wrong just before the break as Neil Young was shown a straight red card on 41 minutes as he tackled Lester at knee height. If this was deemed to be a professional foul, then a yellow card would have sufficed as there were covering defenders. Sadly the referee decided otherwise as Young left the pitch.

Vokes had an effort just over the bar on the stroke of half time.

Half time: 1-0

The second half saw Kevin Bond make two changes right from the start as Vokes and Fletcher were taken off, to be replaced by Broadhurst and Pitman.

Pitman managed to get the ball in to the back of the net, but the effort was ruled out for off-side.

Before Forest netted for the second time, the managed to hit the woodwork as Lester produced a shot which beat Stewart. Then Commons produced another rasping shot which went over Stewart's head, off the underside of the cross bar and in.

Stewart was called on to make a good 1-on-1 save on a couple of occassions. We couldn't keep Forest at bay as they came forward again to net for a third time. This time ex-Scummer Prutton was allowed to ghost in to score Forest's third while the defence and keeper seemed to be flapping at the near post! This coming on 67 minutes.

At this point, it looked likely that a rout was on the cards. Thankfully that didn't materialise as Forest eased up as news filtered through that Bristol City were beating Carlisle United away from home.

A 1-on-1 chance fell to Purches, but he failed to even hit the target as the chance didn't trouble the Forest keeper - just the ball boy instead!

Overall, a disappointing performance for the Cherries. Thankfully Leyton Orient beat Bradford City, which means that we're 5 points ahead of the drop zone with just 2 games left to play. Are we safe? We should be!

Man Of The Match
Marc Wilson.

AFCB: Stewart, Young, Purches, McGoldrick, Fletcher, Hayter, Cummings, Gowling, Vokes, Wilson, Summerfield
Subs: Moss, Hollands, Cooper (for Summerfield, 28 mins), Broadhurst (for Fletcher, HT), Pitman (for Vokes, HT)
Andy Burton, Portsmouth