Top flight* League fixture
*Then known as Division One

Nottingham Forest 1     Notts County 1
Black 3                                                                      Dryden 52
 
 

Attendance:- 30,168
Referee:- R. Nixon (Wirral)
Weather:- Bright, sunny, frosty and very cold
Corners:- Forest 15 Notts 6
Goal attempts on target:- Forest 11 Notts 3
Goal attempts off target:- Forest 12 Notts 5
Bookings:- Woan (Forest) for a foul
 

Nottingham Forest
Colours:- Red shirts, White shorts, Red socks
League Position:- before match 11th/22, after match 11th/22
Manager:- Brian Clough

1.   Mark Crossley
2.   Gary Charles +
3.   Stuart Pearce
4.   Des Walker
5.   Carl Tiler *
6.   Roy Keane
7.   Kingsley Black
8.   Scot Gemmill
9.   Lee Glover
10. Teddy Sheingham
11. Ian Woan

Sub: Darren Wassall *75
Sub: Gary Crosby +80
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, Black shorts, Black socks
League Position:- before match 18th/22, after match 18th/22
Manager:- Neil Warnock

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   Charlie Palmer
3.   Alan Paris
4.   Craig Short
5.   Richard Dryden
6.   Chris Short
7.   Dean Thomas
8.   Phil Turner
9.   Paul Harding
10. Tony Agana *
11. Tommy Johnson +

Sub: Kevin Bartlett *45
Sub: Steve Slawson +64
 

Video of the match:- Central TV recorded the match but only for a goal report.

CLOUGHIE
The Forest manager’s column in the match day programme
It's always a pleasure for me to be welcoming Notts County to the City Ground - not least because they help us sell a few seats and go some way to filling our ground. People stupidly think that there's bitter rivalry between clubs a spitting distance apart - but let's leave that particular issue to the ranks of the idiots. I'm just delighted that we've got neighbours in the First Division and I would be even happier if Leicester and Derby got up their with us. Blow me, we could have our own Premier League in the East Midlands. Enough of that as well.
All I know is that Notts always come here looking to knock off my big head (in the nicest possible way of course) and they'll have an extra special reason for wanting to do that this afternoon. Nobody likes going out of cup competitions - I was only a few minutes away from that myself at Selhurst Park on Wednesday night. We managed to get a goal back down there but unfortunately for Notts they went down in extra time to Leicester and I can imagine how they felt. They'll want to bounce back from that and I'm totally aware that we could feel a bit of a back lash this afternoon. But I'm quite happy with the way things are going at the moment and now that we've got Des Walker scoring goals at both ends of the field, anything can happen. To be fair to Des I don't want any blame at all attached to him for the midweek goal at Palace. He almost broke his neck trying to rectify somebody else's mistake and on the night - and against Wolves last weekend - he's been brilliant. I hope he's as good today.
 

Nottingham Evening Post Report

WARNOCK’S INSPIRATION
MAGPIES HIT BACK IN STYLE
By David Stapleton

ONE GOAL is never enough, and more than anyone Nottingham Forest might have known this to be the case when local rivals Notts County are the City Ground opponents. Spirit and resilience have been major factors in County avoiding defeat on nine of the last 11 occasions they have crossed the Trent for League games. These statistics span 38 years, but some things never change. How could they now when in Neil Wamock the Magpies have a manager who has powers of motivation off to a fine art!
His side, badly out-played in the first half on Saturday and fortunate that Forest had not quadrupled their third minute lead through Kingsley Black's power-house shot, Warnock used the break to change the game. He detailed right back Chris Short to push into midfield and mark Roy Keane, who had influenced Forest's skilful dominance. It worked marvellously for Warnock whose mid-field presented an altogether sterner challenge. Even County’s manager, however, could not have legislated for the added lift that a soft 52nd minute equaliser from reserve defender Richard Dryden would provide.

BOOST
It even enabled the side to take on Forest's passing mantle at times, though the front men were not effective enough on the day to threaten a greater shock. Nonetheless, a point was a great boost for Notts in their struggles near the foot of the table, particularly as they had just lost Paul Rideout to Rangers and had talented pair Dean Yates and Mark Draper unavailable through injury. As a draw became increasingly likely so the Wheelbarrow Song of the County supporters - who seemed to be present in greater numbers than for the recent home games against Wigan and Leicester - almost held sway in the 30,000-sell-out crowd.
For Forest two points thrown away was another blow to their hopes of getting into Europe through League position. After the "garbage" - Brian Clough's words - at the City Ground recently, the side played well in the first half. But balanced against this, was that Notts were every bit as naive as in the 4-0 Meadow Lane defeat by Forest last August. They let the Reds play and, as every side in the First Division knows, that's asking for trouble. There had been a flurry of Forest corners when County's defence, frequently out-witted before half time, was left floundering by Lee Glover's pass. Black got clear through the middle and pounded a glorious, rising, 20-yard left rooter past Steve Cherry.

DEFLECTED
But the Magpies' 'keeper, who went for trials with Forest as a 14-year-old, had emphatically the last say. He kept his team in the game with several brilliant saves; the one which denied Keane a second goal in 17 minutes possibly preventing another defeat of landslide proportions. The gifted Irishman raced into the clear from Scot Gemmill's pass, but his conviction seemed to desert him at the vital moment and Cherry - playing as well as anyone in the country in the last two-and-a-half months -made a fine block. Local lad Cherry also twice saved in stirring fashion from Glover, an impressive first half stand-in for suspended Nigel Clough, Black and Gary Charles, whose angled shot was deflected onto the bar. The hard working Sheringham three times missed when well placed, Gemmill had a good chance deflected for a corner and there were a number of crosses which only needed a touch. Conversely, Notts might have scored once, when Tommy Johnson just lost out in an exciting race for the ball with Mark Crossley, the resultant collision causing both players to keel over for treatment. Though Sheringham missed a headed chance from Stuart Pearce's centre on the restart, Notts had few alarms once Dryden's header from the convincing Dean Thomas's cross had found its way lazily into the corner of Forest's net, Paul Harding having apparently put off Crossley. A notable exception was when Forest captain Pearce, the side's best player, shot against the inside of a post after a buccaneering surge in 87 minutes. Had it gone in at that late stage it would probably have been bad luck on Notts. Which says everything about the way the city's unfashionables had stuck to their task.
 

Up the Maggies footnote:
This was my first time over the river, I was sat in the Executive Stand (now the Brian Clough stand) and when Notts scored I jumped up and fell backwards, almost taking the whole row with me! But I did have the pleasure of looking over to my left at the Notts fans going mental in the Bridgeford end - a fantastic sight to behold. I think we actually played worse that day than we had earlier in the season at home to Forest when we got thrashed, but in a way that made the result all the more sweeter and helped heal the pain of the humiliating August defeat. It was the first City ground attendance to exceed 30,000 for many years (and their biggest crowd of the season - 28,062 saw the home fixture with Manchester United).
 

Notts County Season 1991/92
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