So, thanks all for your company and comments- bye.
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FULL-TIME: ASTON VILLA 2-2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
What a second half that was. Villa were much more incisive than in the first, with Jordan Ayew even better, Kodjia dangerous and pMcCormack improved - with Gestede involved too, they were a real problem for the Forest back-four.
As for Forest, in Lansbury they have a real captain. He held them together in the early stages and rescued them at the end, though the two minutes produced by Pereira will linger longest in the memory.
Forest go tenth, Villa seventeenth.
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90+5 min Credit to Villa, they’ve kept at it after conceding each sucker-punch goal - and they still are now. But they’re paying for their first half lack of wit.
90+2 min If only Forest’s Polish defender could score the winner, we could enjoy the headline “Sealed With Perquis”. But instead, Elphick gets booked for timewasting, and then Ayew incurs similar wrath for mouth.
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90+2 min Villa win a corner down the left and Grealish flights it towards the penalty sport, where Kodjia is up again. But well though he leaps, he can’t quite find the roof.
90 min Phew! There shall be five added minutes.
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RED CARD! OH COME ON! EFF EFF ESS!
Pereira enjoys himself after helping his team score a goal, celebrating with people paying to be there, hoping for precisely such a moment. This we cannot possibly endure, now we cannot, so the referee is mandated to show him a second yellow card.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 2-2 Nottingham Forest (Lansbury 88)
This is fantastic! It’s fantastic! Pereira takes the ball off Vellios’ lay-back and, still steam-powered from the Cissokho row, explodes past two tackles, plays a one-two with Vellios, bundles through a third, and now inside the box, is finally unloaded ... whereupon the ball breaks square to Lansbury. He drills a rising finish past Bunn with the outside of his right foot!
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86 min Cissokho is completely diddled by Osborn, so hacks him down; Pereira takes exception on behalf of his pal and so treats us to some glorious afters, the two nuzzling brows and receiving a yellow card each.
84 min £11m is a lot of money to pay a relegated club for a Championship striker, but Jonathan Kodjia has shown exactly why Roberto di Matteo did exactly that. In particular, his movement has been superb, and his presence means that defenders can never relax.
82 min “Re your comment at 68 minutes, emails Mesnil Man, ‘Forest have rarely looked like conceding, despite not having much of the ball.’
Can you keep this level of jinxing up all season please?”
My ability to be wrong is totally unpartisan, I’m afraid.
80 min Even though it will seem like I already have, the contribution of Jordan Ayew to this match really cannot be overstated. Even when thing weren’t going well, he didn’t hide nor take the easy option, and his confidence in his quality has shown to be well founded.
78 min And another chance for Villa! This time, Cissokho crosses, and again, Kodjia is up - but he can’t quite direct his header. Nonetheless, he’s played well today and no defence could possibly enjoy the physical challenge of handling him and Gestede.
77 min Ayew does very well flick the ball into the path of McCormack who taps it one side of Lansbury, and he runs around the other is flattened. But the ref plays a good advantage and Ayew collects possession, driving forwards and finding Grealish before the move breaks down.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest (Gestede, 74)
What a goal this is! What a game this suddenly is! Ayew, again, runs at Forest - the variety as well as the intensity of his game has been brilliant. This time, he goes around the outside, feinting to cross then actually crossing. In the middle, Gestede stretches out a go go Gadget leg and takes a heavy touch - the chance seems to have gone - but with his back to goal, he bounces and contorts into a kind of scissors kick, sending the ball skimming past Stojkovic for the second time in three minutes.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Nottingham Forest (McCormack 72)
Well played and well deserved Jordan Ayew! Again, he throws himself at the Forest defence, committing men and poking a ball through to McCormack on the left of the box. Mancienne does all he can to get across, but McCormack’s cross-shot goes through his legs and Stojkovic has no chance.
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71 min Ayew crosses again, after excellent work from Gestede, but Stojkovic scurries across to shovel it away.
70 min Vellios drops short to receive possession, takes a heavy touch, and chucks a chunky thigh into Grealish as he flows away with the ball. He’s booked.
69 min Ayew is still at it - his competitive courage can’t be faulted today - and he burrows in from inside-right, toe-ending a low shot that hurries just wide.
68 min “Re: Raymond Reardon,” retorts Natasha Arthur-Frank, “we have conceded 6 in 2 home games this season.”
Forest have rarely looked like conceding, despite not having much of the ball.
66 min Fox is late on someone - I missed who, I’m afraid - and is booked. Also, Gestede has replaced Gardner.
66 min “A good keeper would have saved that,” tweets Joe Friel, and he might be right. It was a really good hit from Vellios, who got good purchase off a short backlift, but Bunn reacted slowly.
63 min Villa win a free-kick on the right and this time, the delivery from Lansbury is good, picking out Kodhia in the middle. He’s up well too, heading towards the bear post, where Stojkovic, who’s looked solid, scrambles the ball away.
63 min This is not going at all well for Villa - Lam, the sub, is subbed - Pereira replaces him.
62 min Vellios’s goal minded me slightly of this one.
60 min Lam hurts himself in a tackle with Ayew, so there’s a brief pause while he shakes it off.
59 min Ayew, who’s never stopped looking for the ball taking risks comes inside from the right and throws himself into a shot, nailing the bar from 25 yards. Villa will be starting to wonder.
WHAT A GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Nottingham Forest (Vellios 57)
Gardner misplaces a pass and Perquis intercepts, knocking off a ball to Carayol out on the left-wing. He bundles through a challenge then lays inside for Osborn, who does very well to work Vellios a pocket of space, 25 yards out. So by way of appreciation, he turns and absolutely annihilates a drive that swerves away from Bunn, who was perhaps a little late moving his feet.
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55 min Ayew ventures deep to prompt, meaning he’s on-hand when the ball comes back from Grealish. He can’t force anything more than a corner, and again, it comes to nothing.
53 min “Regarding your comment at 26 minutes that Aston Villa seem to be unable to even nick an apple from Nottingham Forest’s assembled stall,” emails Raymond Reardon, “I would propose that even Robin Hood would be unable to steal something from the defensive force set around the tricky tree forest.”
I can see that, er, perhaps.
50 min De Laet goes down the right and pokes a high cross that McCormack can’t quite control. Villa, though, keep u[ the pressure and find Grealish on the left touchline. He dances inside in his 1980s shorts and slides a ball across for Gardner, who pastes another shot wide.
48 min Though you’d not expect many teams to leave Villa Park with a point this season, if Forest get three they go fourth. They could really do with showing more conviction.
46 min McCormack, who struggled in the first half, finds some space immediately that the second starts, on the top left corner of the box. He looks to ronniewhelan one into the top far corner, but can’t find the necessary draw.
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46 min Once more unto the Holte, dear friends.
Change for Villa: Gollini is still injured, so Bunn replaces him.
And out come the players, so back come the adverts.
Half-time entertainment: Cammy Lee saves three penalties for Dundee United against Dunfermline.
Which is to say that Villa have attacked with desire without creating much, while Forest have defended as well as they’ve needed to, without finding the right passes on the break.
If Villa can get Grealish on the ball, and get more men into the box to help Kodjia, they should find a way to score. But if Forest can locate a touch more confidence, there’s plenty out there for them too.
Half-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Well, both teams have done ok.
45+5 min Lansbury has some kind of hot cross bun braided into his head.
45+4 min Forest win a free-kick 40 yards out, right of centre, and the centre-halves canter forwards. But Lansbury’s kick helps no one, so they gambol back again.
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45+3 min Carayol is down, clutching his left knee after a block tackle with De Laet. He doesn’t look happy.
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45+2 min Lansbury finds time and space 30 yards from goal, lines up a shot, and then swipes across it sending the ball spinning wide. Forest have yet to muster a shot on target.
45 min Due to the treatment of Cash and Gollini, there shall be five additional minutes.
44 min Another sortie down the right from Vill and over comes the cross, picking out Kodjia at the back post. He heads down well enough but, backpeddling, can’t impart the venom to mither Stojkovic.
42 min Ayew demands the ball again, and outside the box, dead centre, runs across the face towards the right, trying to get around the outside. It earns him a shooting opportunity too, just the kind the gets slices over the bar close to the near post.
41 min And here’s Dave again: “He saw us walking in his neighbourhood about 3 hours before Derby v Juve European Cup semi (their biggest game in years), stopped his car and we got in, he turned up the volume on his 8 track and sang to Sinatra. Every other car was going to the ground, he took us home waving at the fans. He must have got to the game about an hour before kick off.”
39 min A lovely email on the wonderful Brian Clough, from Dave McMurrugh: “When I was a student I was dating a girl from Derby - I stayed at her house so any romance was impossible. She suggested that we could babysit for her neighbour, as they were off to an awards night. When we got to the house a certain Mr Clough opened the door said “Come in, young man,” and led me to the fridge which was suitably stocked. “Help yourself, young man”, he ordered and off he went off to collect his award. When he came back, realising that we may have got frisky, he knocked on his own door. A perfect gent.”
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37 min Villa have upped things slightly, though it’s hardly an onslaught. But Ayew, who’s been good, gets on the ball 25 yards out and ignores McCormack outside him, instead unleashing a heat-seeker of a low shot that’s blocked about 0.214cm from his foot.
35 min Kodjia pops up again, this time on the left, and he considers taking on Lichaj before rolling back for Cissokho; he crosses and picks out Ayew, who can’t impart a suitable chunk of brow.
33 min Lovely from Villa, Ayew driving at the centre of the Villa defence, drawing men to him, and feeding Kodjia, again pulling right. His cross is a jazzer, too, low, hard and finding McCormack at the back post. But, quick though he slides, he can only hit the post, both with himself and the ball.
32 min: “Didn’t Clough also once send out youth teamer Vance Warner to impersonate Franz Carr for a post match interview?” asks Natasha Arthur-Frank.
I do hope so.
30 min Stojkovic is down after hurling himself head-first into a low cross. He’ll be reet.
28 min Forest are growing into things now, and Lansbury, who has been excellent so far, snatches a break, charging through the centre-circle and slotting a pass for Carayol, outside him on the left. Running at Cissokho, he tried to get down the outside, but a toe-end was enough to spoil his momentum.
26 min I suppose an alternative way of summarising what we’ve seen so far would be to say Forest have “set their stall out” and Villa haven’t really come close to teefing an apple, let alone turning over the tables.
24 min Forest win a corner down the left and Lansbury drives it flat and at the near post. Mancienne nashes in there too, but Cissokho gets their first, just.
23 min Apropos of not much going on on the pitch, Brian Clough once said of Franz Carr: “The best bloody corner flag hitter in the country, if only that was where the net was.”
22 min I’d love to see Jack Grealish in the middle of the pitch, less dependent on others to get him the ball and where the ability to beat a man is even rarer and even more useful.
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20 min Sake; Matty Cash is down again, and that will be the end of his afternoon. Lam replaces him.
18 min Gary Gardner has started the game really well, and he bowls elastically through midfield before Kasami decides he seen enough, sliding in to win a yellow card. Ayew commanders the free-kick, just left of centre and 25 yards out, curling his effort a fair bit over the bar.
17 min “The ball has been in the Villa half for just 6% of the match so far,” quotes RP on Twitter. “The folly of omitting Nicklas Bendtner...”
Lord B is allowing his subjects to become acquaintaed with his ways.
15 min Forest win a throw deep in the Villa half, their first such sortie of the afternoon. Fox hurls it at Kasami, on the edge of the box, he heads up into the air, and that’s about the size of it.
13 min Lovely again from Villa, Westwood feeding Grealish, who is a beautiful mover. He collects the ball without breaking stride and immediately looks to beat his man - Lichaj I think - who does well to hang in there and disrupt.
12 min Cash gingerly hobbles off, which is a far more positive sign than those that were immediately apparent. He’s now back on.
12 min Talking of block tackles...
11 min Oh dear. Cash runs across to face Elphick with a block tackle and goes down in all sorts, unhappy with his left knee. It does not look at all good.
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10 min First flash of old Kodjia. He pulls right and teases Kasami, dragging the ball outside him and crossing low and hard. But it’s well blocked by Perquis.
8 min Ayew wanders over to inside-left and tricks insde a tackle before Mancienne pulls him down. McCormack then lines up the ensuing free-kick, 35 yards out, and slams his effort directly into the wall.
8 min And there’s a stat to confirm what our eyes already see - the ball has been in the Villa half for just 6% of the match so far.
7 min Forest have barely mustered an offensive kick thus far. They’re not hanging on, but they’re not comfortable either.
4 min Villa are into this, and Gardner does excellently, striding through centrefield and sliding a superb ball into the stride of Ayew. He bursts into the box, clearly waiting for a challenge over which to fall - Fox is in close attendance. But Fox does very well to put him off without infringing.
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3 min Nice from Grealish, who saunters down the left-hand side of the box, teases Lichaj, and sees his attempted cut-back cleared.
1 min Positive start from Villa, Gardner, spreading right for De Laet, whose cross was intercepted and slid - slided - slod - behind by Henri “Angela” Lansbury. The corner, hit high and hard towards the back post, comes to nothing.
1 min And off we go.
Why does nothing start on time these days? What a world.
The teams are tunnelled; Villa have these right peculiar tracky tops on, which look like zip-up tank-tops on top of a shite longsleeved t-shirt.
Things to which I’m looking forward: seeing Jonathan Kodjia, and seeing how he links with Jordan Ayew, Jack Grealish and Ross McCormack. It’s very hard to see how that little lot won’t sort promotion, and in some style too.
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Villa Park is such a ground, and the Holte is probably the best end in English football.
More images of Villa Park ahead of today's @NFFC clash. Looking beautiful. Come on you Villans! #AVFC #NFFC #AVLNOT pic.twitter.com/tjucB6uZQ7
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) September 11, 2016
And here it is! Philip Montanier thinks his team are ready to win away.
Di Matteo is expecting an exciting game. More news as I get it.
Roberto Di Matteo is talking to Scott Minto, perched on a brown Chesterfield. Yes, a brown Chesterfield. Chesterfields are like beanbags; often admired by guests, but never sat on by owners, who are intimately acquainted with their uncomfortableness.
And here’s the wonderful Johnny Metgod, in 1984.
“Forest equalled another record, only the second side to be relegated from the Premiership three times. Will they be good enough to come back up and try and avoid a fourth?”
Here’s the last time these two sides met.
Absolute gold, this. Clough: the Forest years
While we wait: here’s Nick Miller’s match preview, including some thoughts from Brian Little.
Givers and guessers
Aston Villa: Gollini; De Laet, Elphick, Chester, Cissokko, Gardner, Westwood, Ayew, McCormack, Grealish, Kodjia.
Subs: Bunn, Baker, Richards, Bacuna, Gestede, Amavi, Jedinak.
Nottingham Forest: Stojkovic, Lichaj, Mancienne, Perquis, Fox, Carayol, Kasami, Lansbury (c), Cash, Osborn, Vellios.
Subs: Henderson, Mills, Dumitru, Pereira, Licá, Lam, Grant.
Preamble
Of the 22 clubs to have won the European Cup, only two are not playing in their country’s top division: Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest; nor have any two ever met outside of their country’s top division until today’s game between: Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. In part this reflects English football’s social mobility; in part this reflects English football’s horrible governance.
Neither club has started the season well. Villa, who spent plenty of money doing everything possible to bring about an immediate promotion, are 17th; Forest, who sold Oliver Burke to Leipzig, are 12th.
But the Championship being the Championship and tautology being tautology, it is what it is; in a few weeks, it would not be especially surprising to see either or both much nearer the top. Nor would it be to see both get after it in the proper fashion today.
Kick-off: 1.15pm BST
