NOTTINGHAM FOREST - SATURDAY 19/08/2006

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Brighton had made a decent start to life in League One, picking up 7 points out of a possible 9 and remaining unbeaten so far. However, a trip to title favorites Nottingham Forest was always going to prove to be one of the biggest challenges of the season. For the first time ever, a two car convoy was taking with a record Crocs crowd making the trip to the City Ground for the big game
Mode of Transport: For the first time ever, a two-car convoy was used. Tom Witham piloted the Witham Mobile, carrying himself, Gemma Bantock and Tom Stewart, while Neil Kane was at the helm of the new Kane Mobile, with Andy Blake, Scott McCarthy and Mark Potter as passengers
Team: Mr McGhee deployed the successful 4-3-3 formation that he had used in the previous games this season, with a line up of: Henderson, Reid, Lynch, El-Abd, Mayo; Stokes, Carpenter, Hammond; Revell, Hart, Robinson
Kit: Forest wore their traditional kit of red shirt, white shorts and red socks. For the first time, Brighton wore the new white away kit with blue trim, complete with blue shorts and socks, while Wayne Henderson chose the striking emerald blue and yellow shirt, complemented with navy shorts and socks - and needless to say he looked practically edible
Mark McGhee's Attire: Mr McGhee continued his rather disappointing form so far this season, by again going for a white t-shirt, complemented by navy trousers. His dashing white trainers did make up for this poor effort though, but there is no doubt he will not win the support from the fans until he turns back to the famous 'suit, no tie' effort
Weather: A mixed bag. The day varied from cloud cover, to blazing sunshine in the second half, and ended with somewhat of a downpour at the final whistle
Stadium Rating: The City Ground is by far and away one of the better stadiums in this division. All seated and covered, with 3 separate stands, and a particularly good atmosphere. 8/10
Food Rating: Rollover hotdogs were the order of the day, and these were not too bad. The Chicken Balti pies also smelt particularly tasty. 7/10
Entertainment: A half time penalty shoot out was as good as it got, with the Forest mascot having what can only be described as a shocker between the sticks, allowing small children to think they were good, when in actual fact their penalties were rather shocking. 6/10
Friendliness of Locals: Due to our 2pm arrival in Nottingham, we had very little chance to mingle with locals. However, one shop keeper was rather kind when advising us where to park, and a women who McCarthy accidentally bottled when aiming for Potter took it with a smile. 8/10
Standard of Local Females: There were very few females who we saw around the stadium, so we can only guess that the standard was low, especially with the University currently out of term time. 4/10
Steward Rating: Seemed like a decent bunch, especially the one who was situated on the turnstile and held an in-depth conversation with McCarthy about his green trainers. They also aided in the putting up of the Crocs flag. 7/10
Flag Attention: Due to Potters incompetence, the flag was placed in a position at the corner of the stadium. We are therefore unable to tell how much attention it received
Match Report: Brighton lost their unbeaten record as Forest made it 12 points out of 12 with a 2-1 win at the City Ground. Jake Robinson had netted the opener for the Albion after good work by Alex Revell, but two second half goals, including one from the penalty spot saw Forest take all 3 points, and a disappointing afternoon was rounded off with the sending off of Adam El-Abd for a second yellow in the last few minutes
Thought of the Day: We pondered why no club had thought of giving the away fans only the back row of each stand in the stadium, with the row in front being used as segregation, as we believed that having away fans on all sides and in such close proximity to the home support would make for a more interesting atmosphere