For the first time in 25 years, Forest show up here where their record is as bad, as ours is at their ground. There should only be one outcome so.
Back in 1978 though, they turned up on the back of a 42 game unbeaten run. Terry McDermott put a stop to it with 2 goals either side of half time, which was some compensation for the European Cup elimination earlier in the year. The European Champions of the past 5 years met at Anfield in May 82, but in one of the last games in front of a standing Anfield Road End, our 2-0 win put us on the brink of League title No. 13, while they headed for mid table.
One of Kenny's first wins in charge was against them in 85, and in April 87, I was in residence for the 3-0 home win which just about kept our title challenge going for the time being. In 1988, the teams played each other 3 times in 11 days, with 2 league games and a semi final in the cup. While our bogey record continued against them away from home, the semi final and home league game more than made up for it. It was 5-0, it should have been more, but only one more point was needed to bring home League title No. 17. And when they returned the following year, a late Aldridge penalty gave us a 1-0 win, and the chance to retain it. But that's all it would be.
With no improvement in the away form over the following years, it was only the home fixture that brought any kind of joy, before Forest headed from mid table to the first division. When they returned, the New Year's Day fixture in 96 saw an early hangover from 2 early goals. When the response came, Collymore showed why we signed him the previous summer, and we won 4-2.
By the time October 98 arrived, they were a club rotating from one division to another, and we were experimenting with joint managers, who started the rotation policy. It took a while for the players to adjust to the fact that in the middle of a Uefa Cup campaign, there would be less game time than they were used to. Michael Owen still destroyed the newly promoted side 5-1. Roy left the stage to Gerard within weeks, and Forest left the EPL stage altogether until last summer. So today, there really should only be one outcome.
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