29-07-06: Nottingham Forest (a) 3-2 (HT 1-1) Crowd (8,513)

Programme:

Robert L. Shoebridge of Ripley, Derbyshire was the referee in the final game of the pre-season, in which Kevin Blackwell was looking to finish his fine tuning in preparation for his first League fixture, he was given further headaches in the form of injury to two of his most likely fitst team players, as first Neil Sullivan limped off after eighty-seven minutes and was followed in injury time by Eirik Bakke with a suspected knee injury. New signing Kevin Nicholls did not play and neither did the injured, Richard Cresswell, David Livermore, Stephen Crainey and Shaun Derry and to that list was added two more in Sullivan and Bakke, which left his goalkeeping stocks low after Ian Bennett's departure to Sheffield United and his only real choice is Darren Ward who is on trial but available for transfer from Norwich City. Steve Stone was moved into the centre of midfield to partner Eirik Bakke which meant Sebastien Carole and Eddie Lewis took the wide wing roles, with Ian Moore and David Healy as the strikers. The positive attitude paid of as United took the lead after just three minutes when Ian Moore's meticulous pass found Steve Stone, who had drifted out to the wing, and the former England International took it in his stride before cutting the ball back from the by-line and his perfect cross split open the Forest defence and the on-rushing David Healy had an easy task to side-foot the ball past Paul Smith in the home goal. The Northern Ireland International threatened to double United's advantage when another clever pass from Ian Moore allowed him to angle a shot across the face of the goal. At the other end SammyClingan saw his shot go narrowly wide of Sullivan's post, but three minutes before half-time the home side equalized. Striker Nathan Tyson reacted quicker than Neil Sullivan to a header from grant Holt and was able to slip the ball into an empty net. Leeds brought on Sean Gregan for Matthew Kilgallon in central defence and Ian Morris for Eddie Lewis on the left wing after the half-time break, while Forest similarly brought on Jack Lester for Danny Cullip and John Thompson for Ian Breckin. Before the Leeds defence had chance to settle Grant Holt gave Forest the lead two minutes into the second half. Julian Bennett's cross from the left flank evaded United's static defenders and Holt timed his run perfectly to send a powerful header beyond Neil Sullivan's reach. After fifty-five minutes Jermaine Beckford replaced Ian Moore as striker. The goal had woken up the visitors and Eirik Bakke, in particular, and approaching the hour mark he grabbed the ball as Leeds were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the home penalty area and as home keeper Paul Smith was preparing to line up his wall the Norwegian stroked a quick effort into the Forest keeper's unguarded net. After the goal Kevin Blackwell sent on Robbie Blake in place of David Healy and three minutes later Forest replaced Sammy Clingan with Nicky Eadin. However, the home side continued to look the more dangerous side and substitute Jack Lester wasted a good chance when he was wide from within the penalty area. In the seventy-fourth minute Robert Bayly replaced Steve Stone for Leeds and Neil Harris took over as striker from Grant Holt for Forest. The Forest substitute should have sealed victory for his team but he shot straight at Neil Sullivan when well-placed and it was the home side's inability to exploit their openings that allowed Leeds to claim the winner with eight minutes on the clock. Eirik Bakke attempted to test Paul Smith with a long range shot but the ball deflected off Wes Morgan and sailed high over the Forest keeper to nestle in the back of the net. But leeds had little to celebrate as first Sullivan and then Bakke had to leave the field with injuries, to be replaced by Darren Ward and Jonathan Howson respectively.