The Forest Frenzy - Hepburn back in charge!!!!!!!!
This season so far has been Hepburn's most traumatic to date with everything going on off the pitch and not a lot of concentration on it. Hepburn is now out of jail and he hopes his troubles are behind him and he can fully concentrate on his job at Nottingham Forest. His team have done well in his absence but now he is back in charge he hopes his team can push on and push for a European spot if they are lucky. They are not far off it but inconsistency has let them down badly so far this season and as of yet they have not been able to put a good run of form together but Hepburn is hoping to change that in the remainder of the season. Here is the latest games from the City Ground......................
Premiership
Everton v Nottingham Forest - (A) Sat 6th December 2008
A tough game for Hepburn to come back to as he took his team to Goodison Aprk tot ake on Everton who were struggling for form themselves. A lively game that saw Evertont ake the lead, only for forest to hit back twice in a three minute spell with goals from Marlon Harewood. Jesus Navas made it 3-1 to Forest just before half time and Forest were seemingly cruising towards victory. Everton came out int he second half and gave it a right go and Forest were struggling to cope at times. The Toffees pulled a goal back to make it 3-2 and suddenly Hepburn became nervous. Forest tried to hit back and were unlucky not to add a fourth but int he end it did not matter and it was a superb win for Hepburn's first game back as manager.
Final Score - Everton 2 v 3 Nottingham Forest Goals - Everton - Cahill (21), Katsouranis (60) Goals - Forest - Harewood (33,36), Navas (44) Att - 35294 MOTM - James Harper (Nottingham Forest) Premiership
Man Cty v Nottingham Forest - (A) Sun 14th December 2008
Another tough game for Forest here as they were off to Manchester to face Man City. A game Forest will be remembered for not giving up in. They were twice behind but they kept playing football and deservedly managed to get a draw. Marlon Harewood scored a double to cancel out goals from City's Samaras and Carew to get Forest a point. Hepburn praised his side's fighting spirit after the game and it was now two games unbeaten for Hepburn.
Final Score - Man City 2 v 2 Nottingham Forest Goals - Man City - Samaras (38), Carew (72) Goals - Forest - Harewood (68,85) Att - 47993 MOTM - Marlon Harewood (Nottingam Forest) Premiership
Nottingham Forest v Bolton - (H) Sat 20th December 2008
A poor performance here from Forest as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bolton. The Forest players simply did not perform at all to the level they are capable of and Hepburn let them know in no uncertain terms at how unhappy he was. He had them out on the pitch after the game for extra training. It could have been four or five for Bolton as Forest were so poor all over the pitch.
Final Score - Nottingham Forest 0 v 2 Bolton Goals - Bolton - Leremi (15), Stead (35) Att - 30569 MOTM - Ricardo Gardner (Bolton) Premiership
Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest - (A) Fri 26th December 2008
A great end to the year for Forest here as they travelled to Villa Park where they destroyed Aston Villa and ended the year full of confidence. Whatever Hepburn said to them about their performance last week it seemed to work as the energy and work rate were back and Villa did not what had hit them. It should have been a lot more than the 3-1 scoreline suggested but Forest were having no luck in front of goal. Harewood got them off to a flying start only for Villa to equalise late in the first half. In the second half Forest were pressing and earned a penalty that David Dunn converted with ease. They then got a second penalty much tot he astonishment of Hepburn and adam Drury stepped up to slot it home to give Forest a 3-1 advantage. It took two penalties to win the game for Forest but they should have won it easily as they missed a few gilt edged chances but hepburn was just happy to pick up another three points.
Final Score - Aston Villa 1 v 3 Nottingham Forest Goals - Villa - McCann (31) Goals - Forest - Harewood (12), Dunn (pen,52), Drury (pen,73) Sent Off - Hasan Salihamidzic (Aston Villa) Att - 42558 MOTM - Adam Drury (Nottingham Forest)
A great end to the year for Hepburn's Nottingham Forest with only one loss all month. Forest go into 2009 full of confidence and sit in 9th position in the table, looking more than capable of grabbing a European spot.
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