Villa Parkside 1
Alysson 74
Nottingham Forest 2
Delap 46, Jesus 88

ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN

A lot of what happened in this match, good or bad, happened by accident.

Milenkovic and Cunha, having injured themselves in a game of leg-wrestling or something, made way for Diomande and Aina to play centre back beside Murillo. Diomande was mightily impressive, and Aina formed a really promising relationship with Munoz (and eventually MGW) down the right. As Shakespeare said, "Sometimes, things work out".

The first half was a bit duff, only occasionally lit up by the odd bit of slapstick. Neco Williams accidentally sent one into orbit. Parkside almost accidentally scored when a cross was accidentally deflected goalwards, Sels' half stop was squeezed off the post by Murillo, and a subsequent shot was parried by Sels' face and away. A chapter of accidents? Not exactly. Murillo's use of the post to jam the ball backwards was no accident, just instinctive brainwork. Okay, he didn't have his best game ( he does look more Sumo like than ever with his bun) but he was the one who retrieved the ball which gave Delap the chance to shoot and score. He wasn't as bad as scapegoaters made him out to be.

There were other accidents. Ndoye suffered a busted nose but carried on bravely accomplishing very little. The referee accidentally awarded Forest a free kick once. Parkside's Jackson played like somebody who aimed to commit non-accidental injury on anybody who bested him. Unai Emery looked one dental appointment away from a heart attack.

Everyone expected the second half to follow the same grim pattern as the first, but Delap's goal in the 46th minute changed everything. The goal itself was special, a long range whack whose power and direction was too much for Suzuki the Carmaker. After this, Forest's confidence, rather than Glasner's so-called "tweaks", allowed them to control almost all the second half. No more accidents, just a team buoyed by one brilliant individual goal.

With Schlager and McAtee running midfield, Aina pushing out and Munoz and MGW linking up down the right, Forest began to reduce Parkside's resistance to rubble. Delap scored again but was off-sided. Then he scored again but it was the side netting. Every cross looked dangerous. Ndoye courageously missed two good chances. And then Parkside scored.

It was everybody's fault. The manager for not using his subs. Murillo for sumo-ing somebody off the mat, the entire defence for allowing a four foot Brazilian to head the ball home, the forwards for failing to get more goals, Ndoye for bravely overstaying his welcome. The ref for any reason you could think of.

Anyway, things got a bit complicated after that. To be honest, despite Jesus coming on for the brave but fairly useless Ndoye, it began to look like Forest were settling for a draw. Around 80 minutes, McAtee was taken off after fouling Maatsen. Sangare replaced him. Then Maatsen limped off and was replaced by ... oops, nobody, because Emery had used up all his subs.

It was Parkside being down to ten men which once again tipped the match in Forest's favour, but as Shakespeare said, "When opportunity knocks, finish the buggers off." Schlager tried to do just that with a stunning header well saved by Suzuki the Carmaker, but the winning goal came from a move of such perfection it made the heart swell fit to bursting. Munoz to MGW, MGW to Munoz, Munoz cross, back flick by MGW, slid home by Jesus. Suddenly we were back in Nuno's best days, in Vitor's best days, when the players were carried along by pure enjoyment. Perhaps those days will come back. As Shakespeare said, "God knows. I don't."

It wasn't quite over. Referee Andy Pandy found six minutes of extra time in his bag of tricks, but after eight of the six minutes he must have realised that his game, literally, was up.

Well done Forest. You restoreth my soul. For now.