Jermaine Beckford excels as fallen giants meet
Nottingham Forest (0) 1 Leeds United (1) 2
Here was a fixture sepia-tinted enough to satisfy the hungriest nostalgia-hound. A fixture, too, to stir the curiosity. How are these two giants of the past faring down in what used to be the Third Division of English football? Is either of them capable of making the long climb back to the dizzy heights of the Premier League, where both could still be found not all that long ago?
On the evidence of this keenly contested, lunchtime game, both are entitled to dream dreams of promotion. Leeds certainly are, 15-point handicap or no 15-point handicap, after starting the season with three successive wins.
Manager Dennis Wise said before the game that victory here, against the pre-season favourites, would frighten the life out of a few people.
He was less bullish after it, conceding that his team were lucky to win with a late goal by Jermaine Beckford and declining to talk about the possibility of getting back into the Championship at the first attempt. "We need to get 70 points, which is 55 points, really, with the minus 15," he said. "We need to get safe first. As soon as we get safe, then we can carry on doing what we're doing. From there, hopefully, we'll have the next target and we'll see. Today, we were fortunate. First half, I think we were better: second half, they were a lot better than us."
Forest's second half revival was impressive enough to suggest that, once they get their strikers back in full working order, they can repeat last season's achievement of reaching the play-offs, at the very least. "There's no need to hide your head in shame over the way we played today," declared manager Colin Calderwood. "I'm very, very happy with it. I think we've displayed to the fans that there's a lot more to be encouraged about compared to the points total [two]. But we are very aware that we need to get the [first] victory. It looked as though it would come today, but it didn't."
The home support were not too happy, though, about a first half performance so artless and aimless, it would have made Brian Clough weep. During that period, Leeds' noisy, enthusiastic following of 3,000 fans gloried in their composed, well-organised team's mastery of the opposition. That was especially true up front, where Tresor Kandol and Beckford tormented the home defence.
Leeds' first goal, in the 17th minute, was a perfect demonstration of their lethal understanding. Nudging on a longish ball from right-back Frazer Richardson, Beckford crafted it neatly into a short through pass for his partner. Turning his marker, Kandol drove a shot in off the post.
The balance of power shifted remarkably at the start of the second half. Attacking with a vim and determination rarely visible before the interval, Forest not only equalised but threatened to overrun Leeds.
They drew level when the lively, imaginative Kris Commons took a free-kick way out on the right touchline with his left foot. When he swung the kick into a crowded goalmouth, it was difficult to tell whether anyone got a final touch before the ball eluded Leeds goalkeeper Casper Ankergren and ended up in the back of the net. Most credited the goal to Commons.
But that was only the half of it. James Perch and Commons both went close to giving Forest the lead before a prone Rui Marques somehow blocked Commons' close-range shot when all seemed lost for Leeds. Felix Bastians, too, ought to have scored when he spun on a low centre from substitute Nathan Tyson and shot wide.
Forest's punishment for being so profligate was to see Beckford steal in to plonk the ball into the roof of the net when Sebastien Carole made an enterprising run through the middle and finished with a toe-poke that turned into a telling pass.
Trophy cabinet
Nottm Forest
European Cup 1979, 80
League 1978
FA Cup 1898, 1959
League Cup 1978, 79, 89, 90
Leeds
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1968, 71
League 1969, 74, 92
FA Cup 1972
League Cup 1968
Daily Telegraph