It was a sunny Saturday morning in the East midlands as I made my way over the Trent Bridge. I looked across at a tranquil scene. Families were relaxing on the river’s edge and rowers took to the water for their morning workout. The city ground provided the backdrop for the oil painting, and already the prominence of red shirts was evident as the anticipation began to grow for what is the biggest fixture of the season for the two largest clubs in the East Midlands
Fast forward two hours and the scene had changed. The sun still shone over the city ground but the families had disappeared and the empty pubs were filled with passionate supporters creating a carnival atmosphere. If anyone in this city had been living under a rock, they would know that derby day had arrived by the chants that echoed through the city and into their homes. As the white shirts poured in, the chants grew louder and it seemed the match was just a by-product of the rivalry between the two clubs. The centrepiece was the atmosphere surrounding it, and bragging rights belonged to the fans that created the most.
As the stadium filled, anticipation for the battle about to commence on the pitch started to dawn. Both sets of fans reminded the other of their past victories. Terrace banter was exchanged and both ends were deafening to be in as they tried to out do one another’s war cries. Inflatables were batted from spectator to spectator and fans bounced around in excitement for kick off. Here were two fallen giants. Both had found major success through one man, winning league titles and European cups. Both now earned their crust in the second tier of English football. Forest were unbeaten at home and Derby had the best away record in the league. How this one would pan out would be anyone’s guess.In actual fact the game panned out as most derby games do. A close encounter with neither team wanting to lose. The odd tussle on the pitch and very little in it. Derby were the team who won the stats for possession in the first period but in truth never really threatened. Neither side could create a clear cut chance until Forest went ahead just before half time. Hobbs made a timely run to reach Andy Reid’s corner and nodded into the back of the net to send Billy Davis’ team down the tunnel as the happier.
After the break, Derby failed to apply enough pressure to Forest to ask any questions of their rivals. On 78minutes, Richard Keogh left referee Simon Hooper with no choice other than to award him with an early bath as he brought down Chris Cohen inside the box and picked up his second yellow card. However, Lee Grant gave the Rams fans something to cheer about as he got down low to his right to palm away Darius Henderson’s penalty.
What followed was actually Derby’s best spell of the game. Somehow a light bulb seemed to go off in the players’ minds that now they actually needed to pull together and do something to prevent them from losing this game. You could see the 2000 away supporters asking why it took a dismissal this to get their side to play, but they got behind the team nonetheless. Sammon had the best chance in the closing stages to level the scoring but even 5minutes of added time and a number of free kicks awarded in the last 15minutes of the match was not enough to allow Derby to get level.
The teams were applauded off by both sets of fans, but in this match there would only be one winner. The Brian Clough trophy found a new home in Nottingham and we later found that Nigel Clough would be left searching for one. A man who had been in charge for almost 5 years was sacked on the back of the defeat, much to the shock of the Derby faithful. The ninety minutes saw two evenly balanced teams walk out to different fortunes. Forest reside within the top six and look strong enough to push on and make a serious bid for promotion this season. Derby gut their management and backroom staff in an attempt make major changes. Whether this will prove to be a shrewd or stupid move remains to be seen.
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