Troubled Forest not out of the woods yet

BOTH Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United belied their respective Premier League positions in a game at the City Ground last night which was most notable for its string of missed opportunities.

Forest, who began as the bottom team but have now moved above Coventry, played above themselves. Newcastle, hoping to go second, again struggled to find form in their first goalless draw since April 1995.

Newcastle needed a Premiership pick me up. In the seven weeks since they beat Manchester United 5-0, their league form had become something of an anticlimax - only one win in five games and 10 points dropped.

With David Batty suspended and Faustino Asprilla injured, they were always going to have to improvise to some extent, although Les Ferdinand, who had recovered from a fractured cheekbone, was back in the attack after missing five matches. Not that the opposition appeared likely to give them much of an argument either way.

Off the pitch Forest continue to be the subject of takeover discussions, on it their chances of survival in the Premiership are becoming of more interest to undertakers. They had suffered their longest run of league games without a win - 16 since before women had the vote. Two more failures and this figure would be equalled.

This game was always going to be about crosses, their quality and the effectiveness with which the defences dealt with them. In the opening minute, a good, early centre from Robbie Elliott gave Forest considerable angst. Newcastle became just as flustered after Pavel Srnicek had met Dean Saunders' cross with a weak punch.

With Alan Shearer and Ferdinand the targets, Newcastle were the more likely to prosper from any half decent service that the wings provided. Yet Forest should have gone ahead in the fifth minute, after Chris Allen out paced Steve Watson on the left and cut into the penalty area before crossing low. Alf Haaland had made a stealthy run through the middle, catching the Newcastle centre backs unawares, but with the goal gaping, he shot over the bar.

As Ferdinand, having found David Ginola in space, met the Frenchman's cross with a glancing header over the bar, it seemed that Forest would soon rue that missed opportunity. Yet Newcastle's passing took a while longer to find its usual fluency.

Shearer hardly saw the ball during the opening half hour, although Mark Crossley was glad enough to fist the ball off his eyebrows after Ginola's centre had swung towards the England striker in the 25th minute.

Forest must have suspected that if they were going to achieve an unlikely victory, this was the time to strike. Ian Woan's clever chip forward might have set Kevin Campbell up on the half hour, but he was not quite up to the chance.

Four minutes later, Des Lyttle's centre from the right found Campbell unmarked near the six yard line, but his header was awry, the ball screwing off awkwardly to Allen who could do nothing with it.

Forest reached half time in a slightly happier frame of mind. Colin Cooper and Steve Chettle had coped well with Shearer and Ferdinand, and the better chances had come the home team's way.

The last of these had fallen to Woan in the 41st minute, after a mix up between Srnicek and Phillipe Albert, but he lobbed the ball wide. Even then Newcastle could have grabbed the lead, but Ferdinand's close range shot was too high.

Twenty seconds into the second half, Watson met a ball from Cooper with a panicky header straight into the path of Saunders, who was through on goal with the defence helpless. Only the ball's bobble saved Newcastle, Saunders making contact with shin rather than loot and giving Srnicek a simple save.

Yet another miss, but Forest still took heart from this further evidence of Newcastle's lingering frailties at the back. For sides in Forest's position, however, hearts are made to be broken, and as Crossley blocked shots from Ginola and Shearer, Newcastle began to look something more like their usual selves.

Afterwards Ferdinand said he was disappointed. "If you're to win the Premiership you must come to places like this and get three points. It was a game of missed chances. We had a couple of good ones at our end and they had some fantastic chances at theirs. But if you don't it, them away you don't win games.