Matt Derbyshire's screamer thwarts gritty comeback from Leeds

It was Forest who were finishing the half the stronger though as Majewski, Abdoun and Mackie all rattled shots in on the injured Kenny but the Leeds shot stopper stood firm. The half time whistle couldn’t come quick enough for me to enable Brain McD to regroup his troops. Lees, Pearce and Zaliukas were all working overtime to keep the Forest at bay. Half Time: 1-0 Forest.

The urinal philosophers weren’t in a very positive mood as they reflected on the first 45 minutes. “That was rubbish” one fan commented. “We’ll get nowt today” another offered. One fan thought Matt Smith was the cause of all evil whilst one was even berating Tom Lees.

After that boost of positive thinking I settled down for the 2nd period. The opening exchanges of the half were similar to the first 45 minutes as Leeds struggled to make any impact on the Forest defence. There was a lot more urgency in the Leeds play though which gave a glimmer of hope of pulling the single goal back. It was Forest who nearly doubled their lead on 63 minutes as Abdoun smashed a shot at Kenny from the right hand side of the box.

Brian McD had made his first sub by withdrawing Brown in favour of the untried Ariyibi. The gangling youngster almost made an immediate impact as he found space to receive a lovely cushioned header from Smith on the edge of the box. His snatched shot went for a throw in which I’ve got to admit takes quite a bit of skill from the centre of the box!

Byram followed Ariyibi onto the pitch as Leeds suddenly started to put pressure on Forest. Young Byram’s extra pace and willingness to attack soon had Forest back pedalling as Leeds enjoyed their best period of the game. Forest were still a major threat going forward and the portly Reid nearly clinched the game on 81 minutes as he pinged a shot past Kenny and onto the post.

Leeds broke down the right from the goal kick and Byram found space in the inside forward position and surged towards the Forest box. His low cross rebounded against desperate defenders legs and straight into Ross Mac’s path who side footed the ball low into the net. Get innnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! 1-1.

The away support celebrated as if we had just won the league and we were still celebrating when Matt Derbyshire drove a stunning 25 yarder past a despairing Kenny straight from the kick off. 2-1 Forest, and Leeds had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, never relax straight after scoring a goal.

The atmosphere in the stadium was now electric as both teams tried to finish the game off. Poleon, on for Ross Mac, headed over from 8 yards. Next he found space on the left but his shot was blocked. 5 minutes of added time wasn’t enough for Leeds to pull back a 2nd equaliser and the game ended 2-1 toForest.

There was a real buzz as the fans streamed away from the ground, “What an atmosphere, what a game…..the best we’ve played all season,” an excited Forest fan shouted into his phone as I reflected on how far we’ve come in a year, but also the fact that our squad is wafer thin and needs a small injection of quality in the January window. A fact supported by the uncomfortable thought that our potential “game changer” from the bench was an untried youngster who was released by Southampton in the summer.

Tom Lees was my man of the match closely followed by his fellow centre backs Zaliukas and Pearce. The midfield took a battering all afternoon and Smith struggled against Hobbs and Lascelles at the heart of the Forest defence. Kenny clearly wasn’t fit after his 1st minute collision. Not sure why Cairns didn’t replace him? We didn’t perform in the first half but fought back in the 2nd when we had no right to but once we’d equalised it was so disappointing to concede within 10 seconds. Nobody said following Leeds is easy though.

So onto the home game with Blackburn on New Year’s Day. Brian McD has a list of 4 players he wants to bring in when the transfer window opens. After today’s showing we definitely need a little help if we’re going to finish in the top six come the end of May. Interesting times ahead on Planet Leeds. Will 2014 be a better vintage than 2013? I’ve a sneaking feeling it might just be.