A late second half brace from Nottingham Forest earned them a draw at home, and with it single point against local rivals Leicester City, after Foxes' keeper Kasper Schmeichel conceded a late penalty and was later controversially sent off.
In a game consisting of two teams, both low on confidence after previous performances considered way under expectation, the game carried with it an extra bout of pressure on the two opposing former England managers, in a league where a strong start can easily prove paramount come the end of the 46 game season.
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| Alive and Kicking: 2 in 2 games for David Nugent. |
After a cagey start to the game being formed by both sides, it was the away team that prevailed as the leading force in the game; David Nugent going close with a strong header after some brilliant build play courtesy of the impressive Gelson Fernandes who soon cemented his place in the Foxes' team as the main orchestrator of chance creation.
After a spell of dreadful passing and possession, Forest were punished, with Fernandes furthering his impact on the game by capitalising on a defensive mix up to send David Nugent through on offside, and Leicester into a 1-0 lead.
The home side were beaten between the posts again just two minutes later, as Fernandes himself grabbed a self-deserving goal after smashing in a second effort, seconds after his first shot was frantically denied by Forest keeper Lee Camp.
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| Like father like Son: Schmeichel goes crazy |
After being booed off by a truly disgruntled home support, Forest started the second half with little improvement; a pedantic man may point out an increased pass rate around the middle third of the pitch, but certainly nothing in the way of attacking prowl. However, having introduced new signing Ishmal Miller alongside Robbie Findley at half time, and later introducing a Forest fan favourite in the form of Radoslaw Majewski , the second period of the second half belonged to Steve Mclaren's home side. Having won a penalty after City skipper Matt Mills was deemed to have handled inside his own area. Following Lewis Mcgugan's converted penalty kick, Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel was controversially sent off, after initially stalling the penalty kick, before afterwards suffering a 'heat of the moment' downfall in throwing the ball into the City Grounds' home fans.
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| Valiant Effort: LCFC fell at the last hurdle |
The penalty kick and the sending off for Leicester's newly acquired keeper made the remaining 10+ minutes of the game extremely exciting, with Leicester bringing on second keeper Chris Weale, replacing Neil Danns, in preparation for seeing out the game with only 10 men. Sven Goran Eriksson reinforced his defensive stance on the game even further by introducing defensive midfielder Yuki Abe in the place of Andy King.
After effectively holding back the wave of red attacking their goal, Leicester continued to hold a narrow lead, entering the final 5 minutes of the game in stoppage time. The efforts of both teams were put to bed in the 94th minute however, as a bundled attempted save by Weale from a Forest corner allowed George Boatang to stumble into the ball at the back post, pushing the ball past between the posts and sinking the hearts of the 4,000 strong City faithful.
So after an exciting 2-2 draw in between a still under performing Nottingham Forest, and the heavily altered, money rich local rival of Leicester City, the East Midlander's retired after the final whistle having gained only a point a piece. In a county famous for being the home of mythical legend Robin Hood, Nottingham Forest robbed from the rich, because they were poor.
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Sick one man!
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