Forest's bubble - flying high towards the treble

Having finally seen off Queen's Park Rangers and made it to the quarter finals of the F.A. Cup on Thursday, just two days before this day 40 years ago, and with their Wembley date booked for a clash with Liverpool in the League Cup final, Forest now turned their attention back to their amazing project to win the Football League in their first season back in the the First Division.

The whole country was starting to wonder if Forest's amazing form could carry on much longer, and if it could, might they actually win the domestic treble - something that had never been done before, or since.

This was Forest's fourth game in eight days and therefore this is my fourth blog in eight days too. I am sure they were more fatigued than I am but I am going to make this a relatively short entry as I simply don't have as much time as usual to write it up.

Before describing the match, however, I just want to have a brief look at the domestic treble and see how close teams have come before to winning it before and since and a look at the demise of West Ham in 1978.

Floating towards the Domestic Treble

The League Cup only started in 1960-61 and so the possibility of winning the domestic treble had only occurred 17 times before this season.

So far, no team had ever won both domestic cups. In fact no team had appeared in both finals. The best performance in both cups in a single season was by Leeds United in 1968. They won the League Cup and made it to the semi-final in the F.A. Cup (losing to Everton). They finished 4th in the first division that season. Burnley, similarly, made the semi-final of both cups (and lost) and finished 4th in the first division in 1960-61.

Everton made the final of the League Cup in 1977 (losing to Aston Villa after a replay) and made it to the semi-final of the F.A. Cup the same season - but they finished 9th in the first division. Also of note is Manchester United's double of cup semi-finals (both lost) and finished 7th in the first division.

Two clubs have won the "League and Cup" (meaning the F.A. Cup) double since the League Cup had started. Spurs won the league in 1961 and beat Leicester City 2-0 at Wembley in the F.A. Cup final at the same season. But Spurs didn't even compete in that first League Cup.

Arsenal did the double ten years later, in 1970-71 and made it to the 4th Round of the League Cup, losing to Crystal Palace. So, at just five games away from winning the treble, this is the closest any team had come to doing it before this (1977-78) season.

But if Forest were to win the League Cup and the League and lose in the F.A. Cup quarter final (spoiler: which they did of course !) they would become the first to win a League & League Cup double and they would be the closest ever, at that time (at just three games away) from winning the treble.

Two clubs have come closer than that since then. Liverpool won the League and F A Cup double in 1985-86 and reached the League Cup semi final losing to Queens Park Rangers. Manchester United then went one better in 1993-94 when the did the same double and also played in the League Cup final -  but lost to Aston Villa.

(Thanks to David Nesbit for a correction there. )

Hammers Fading and Dying

As Forest's bubble was rising, West Ham's was fading. (OK "Dying" is a bit of a stretch!) West Ham were on their way to getting relegated for the first time in twenty years and would spend three season in the second division before returning.

Phew! No more scary trips to Upton Park for me few a few years, then.

The Teams

After a few only-to-be-expected injuries in their hectic midweek schedule, Forest made a few changes. Bizarrely, Ian Bowyer came in for Viv Anderson (due to suspension, not injury) and John O'Hare played in midfield in place of John McGovern. Frank Clark made his first start in a league game since the 3-0 defeat at Highbury on September 3rd.

For West Ham, Derek Hales returned to the forward line in place of Alan Taylor

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Ian Bowyer, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John O'Hare, 5 David Needham, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Archie Gemmill, 9 Peter Withe, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: David Needham 1, John Robertson 1 (pen.).

West Ham United
1 Bobby Ferguson, 2 John McDowell, 3 Frank Lampard, 4 Alan Curbishley, 5 Tommy Taylor, 6 Bill Green, 7 Alan Devonshire, 8 Bryan Robson, 9 David Cross, 10 Trevor Brooking, 11 Derek Hales.
Substitute: Pat Holland came on for Bill Green.
Attendance: 33,924

The Game

This was a frustrating match for us Forest fans. I watched from the Trent End. After West Ham had seemed to be parking the bus labelled "football academy' in the mud of the Trent End penalty area for much of the first half, they switched into more traditional Hammer's style of play and Brooking carved out an absolute sitter for Dreek Hales but he missed from close range. The game was tied at 0-0 bat half time.

What do people say? To win the league you have to be able to win those home games when you're not playing well? Something like that. For years Liverpool seemed to have the patent on the mechanical 2-0 home win. It was an attribute Forest desperately needed as the game wore on and, thankfully they delivered.

With just ten minutes or so on the clock, an Ian Bowyer free kick was met by David Needham who headed down and in past the West Ham goalie, Bobby Ferguson. 1-0.

To cap the win, a twice taken penalty from Robbo (Ferguson was judged to have moved when he saved Robbo's first) just two minutes later. Frank Lampard (senior) had handballed it.

Needham nods in the first

Robbo wraps it up with a twice taken penalty

Great. Another mechanical 2-0 home win. 

Other Games

Great news for Forest streamed in over the radio waves. Not only had Manchester City lost (3-0 at Arsenal) but Everton had been held at home to QPR and Liverpool had lost at Chelsea.

Here's Arsenal beating Manchester City that day...

The gap at the top was now back to six points and Forest still also had a game in hand.

A Mick Ferguson hat trick closed the gap in the top twenty first division scorer's chart.

SIX POINT Lead and a game in hand too

Forest were now back on top of the current form (last 3 home/way) table. Boro's 0-0 draw at Old Trafford and their general recent good form put them up to 2nd and Bristol City moved into the top half of the table and 4th in the current form.

The win stretched our unbeaten run in all competitions to 22 games...

and our home unbeaten run to 25 games...

So, after this... a whole week off (he wrote with great relief!) before the cup quarter final at The Hawthorns.

The Programme