Forest draw comfort from Super Perchigol, and passion still burns for Cole

By: Tim | November 12th, 2008

Perch secures a 1-1 draw Ok, it’s a little early to christen him ‘Perchigol’, but James Perch’s 52nd minute equaliser on Saturday makes him the joint highest scorer for Forest in the league (with 2 goals). Now, I may be as partisan as a Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip, but I think we deserved all three points against a disjointed Birmingham.

Tyson was well worth his man of the match award, time and again he was able to exploit space and run at defenders when the ball was played to his feet – he missed a great chance to get on the score sheet too, it would have capped a fine performance. Garner was constantly hassling the defenders as well, but one of the standout areas, for me, was the defence.

Joe Heath was brought in as a late replacement for Joel Lynch, who fell ill, but his display was confident and assured, much like that of Luke Chambers. I admit to giving Chambers a bit of grief at the start of the season, but in fairness to him he has improved a lot lately. He has got faith in himself at least.

There was definitely a different atmosphere around the City Ground after the second half performance, one that suggests CC has turned things round slightly. Not just with the team too, but with the fans – the final whistle was greeted with the kind of applause you’d get after a win. To be honest it was just refreshing to see our players passing the ball properly and playing some neat football, as well using the abilities of players like Tyson (i.e. attacking at pace) to good effect.

Calderwood had this to say after the game: ‘There was much to admire about the way we went about getting something from the match’. I’m inclined to agree with him on the strength of that second half, now all we need to do is get some points on the board – safety should be our first priority.

Elsewhere, I’m starting to think that Chris Cohen is supplementing his income by working for the Evening Post. It seems like there is an article quoting Cohen in the paper every other day, usually something like ‘Forest are good enough’ or ‘Win will boost confidence’. He gives more copy than your average branch of Mail Boxes etc. To be fair he is continuing a long tradition of players giving that paper headlines, I just wish the stories had a bit more meat on them.

A letter published in the Evening Post caught my eye yesterday though – it was titled ‘What about Taylor?’ and makes the case for some kind of memorial to Peter Taylor. Although I was a twinkle in father’s eye during the Clough-Taylor era, it does seem shameful that the club doesn’t have some kind of lasting monument to him as well as Clough, a point that Duncan Hamilton picks up on in Provided You Don’t Kiss Me (which is a cracking read, by the way). Whether or not the club will act on this remains to be seen.

Lastly, and speaking of players providing copy, Andy Cole has formally announced his retirement to The Times. While this is no great shock there are a couple interesting points to pick up on in the article. It seems that Cole blames Calderwood for a ‘lack of definition’ in terms of his role at the club; he even claims that CC seemed intimidated by him: ‘I told them from the outset that I didn’t want to go there to sit on the bench because I didn’t want to be perceived as sitting back and making easy money. I wanted to go there and offer something, but it was a strange one from the start. I never knew what my role was. Was it to lend a hand, use my experience, or was it a PR thing, to sell a few more season tickets? I still don’t know. I felt like the manager wouldn’t have a conversation with me. I don’t know if it’s the right word, but he seemed kind of intimidated by me’.

To me it seems quite simple, the main reason we signed Cole was to score goals. He failed to do this, and at £25k a week it wasn’t worth the return, so we let him go. I don’t think this is the last we’ll hear of Cole though: ‘I’ve all this experience. I don’t want to keep it to myself. I want to give something back. I don’t think it’s the end of the Andrew Cole story. Hopefully it’s a new chapter’. Outstanding.

We’ve got Bristol City away this Saturday, which will no doubt be a tough game. I’ve got a lot of time for Gary Johnson’s side, although their recent form has been patchy (after taking a battering at home to Reading) they play some neat passing football, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they sneak in to the play-offs again this season. Still, if we can build on that second-half performance there is some hope at last.