Nottingham Forest 0 Charlton 1 (Cousins 81).
Kevin Nolan reports from the City Ground.
Separating success from failure in football is often a simple matter of timing. When the fixture list throws you together with a club in temporary disorder, it’s possible to slip in there, clobber them while their minds are elsewhere, then make off with three points. Catch them with their tails up, though, and you can also catch a cold, as Charlton did in Sheffield recently.
The hectic schedule brought the Addicks to the banks of the Trent on Tuesday, where trouble has been brewing on both sides of the river. In Nottingham Forest’s case, it boiled over in the wake of a 5-0 weekend drubbing by local rivals Derby County. Chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi had suffered enough and wasted little time in axeing bellicose manager Billy Davies, a choleric Glaswegian rarely more than a heartbeat away from spontaneously combusting.
Davies was chucked out a day before Charlton’s visit, his departure sparking talk of the imminent arrival of Neil Warnock, that bluff, say-what I mean, mean-what-I-say professional Yorkshireman. His long term influence on a club is dubious to say the least but he does bring with him a bit of “new club bounce.” Luckily negotiations stalled and the Addicks dodged that ominous bullet. In caretaker charge of the Trentsiders was Academy manager Gary Brazil, whose name, no disrespect intended, is known to few households, including his own. Charlton had ideally timed this once awkward fixture but only if- and it was an inconveniently big if -they could actually score.
With Scrooge-like parsimony, Charlton have realised a reasonable return on their frugal investment of less than a goal a game. Unlike buses, for them goals arrive singly and never in pairs. But they’ve certainly got the hang of the 1-0 scoreline. Five of their eight victories have been by the only goal (they’ve also lost six by the same slender margin) and if Charlton could manage even one, Forest were clearly there for the taking.
For 81 evenly contested minutes at the City Ground, things progressed routinely but also scorelessly until the excellent Jordan Cousins took care of that vital statistic The Addicks had caught Forest in decline, took full advantage of the situation and legged it without so much as a backward glance of sympathy. Football’s a dog-eat-dog world with little room for sentiment. Just ask Billy Davies. Or, for that matter, Chris Powell.
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Charlton’s victory was hard earned but justified. They defended with determination, passed and moved smoothly on a perfect playing surface and stuck earnestly to their task. When possession was turned over, they funnelled back in good order, covering and tackling crisply. Well organised and fully committed, they edged a game of evenly distributed chances.
Hearts were in visiting mouths, admittedly, when Darius Henderson missed the first of those chances on 16 minutes. From twelve yards, the burly striker stabbed Gonzalo Jara’s precise pass a coat of paint’s width wide of an inviting target.
Growing in confidence, meanwhile, the Londoners hit back. Alertly running down Astrit Ajdarevic’s diagonal delivery from right to left, Cousins turned sharply to thread an intuitive pass through to Marvin Sordell beyond the far post. From an acute angle, the luckless striker hit the woodwork with a blistering low drive.
The end-to-end stuff continued as Simon Cox’s dangerously low cross penetrated a crowded six-yard area, with Lawrie Wilson desperately clearing at the far post, before Cox squandered a genuine opportunity a minute before the break. Played past Michael Morrison by Henderson, the midfielder chipped over the advancing Ben Hamer but hit the far post; the rebound was returned by Jamie Mackie, headed firmly by Henderson but brilliantly tipped over the bar by Hamer.
So far so reasonably good for the visitors but the need to score was becoming urgent. Midway through the second period, Cousins gave little hint of his later heroics by making a dreadful hash of Charlton’s best chance. Picked out by Wilson’s perfect cross wide of the far post, his cushioned volley began rising on impact and hasn’t been seen since. A quarter hour later, the kid with the old head on young shoulders, more than made amends.
Favoured by the rebound as Jonathan Obika, running on to Adjarevic’s subtle flick, hit the foot of the left post, Cousins calmly sidefooted the winner into the centre of stranded Karl Darlow’s goal. Jeers from the locals that their erstwhile idols weren’t “fit to wear the shirt” were Forest’s instant reward. Bit harsh that, really. You can’t win ’em all. Or even draw ’em.
A solid team performance, all in all, with Cousins shading the gifted Adjarevic as man-of-the-match. Diego Poyet was his usual blend of pugnacity and artistry, a sturdy defence gave little away, while Hamer did his bit in helping them to chalk up another clean sheet. Reza Ghoochannejhad has undoubted skill but needs to adjust quickly to the physical demands made by English football. But there’s no denying that this team is playing for Jose Riga, whose record of eight points from five games bears scrutiny. He’s in charge now, there’s no point in cutting off noses to spite faces and absolutely nothing to be gained from relegation. League One!….spare us that!
So off to Derby on Saturday, travelling with renewed hope, then next Tuesday to Leed United, another club tearing itself apart. Might be something there so let’s hope Brian McDermott survives until then. He’s a good lad, Brian, but they’re in danger of freefall up there. Don’t need ’em aroused. Blimey, Warnock’s name might be in the frame again.
Forest: Darlow, Halford, Lascelles, Collins, Fox, Mackie, Greening, Jara, Cox (Paterson 52), Abdoun (Darbyshire 87), Henderson (Djebbour 68). Not used: Harding, Evtimov, Majewski, Gomis. Booked: Jara, Djebbour.
Charlton: Hamer, Wilson, Morrison, Dervite (Wood 46), Wiggins, Ghoochannejhad, Ajdarevic (Fox 90), Cousins, Poyet, Jackson, Sordell (Obika 60). Not used: Thuram, Nego, Green, Pigott.
Referee: A. Haines. Att: 17,951 (258 visiting).