Nottingham Forest fought out an icy stalemate at the City Ground and had to
settle for a point in their battle to make an impact in the First Division's top
six.
David Platt's side dominated for long periods, particularly in the first half,
but just could not find a way through Norwich's spirited defence.
Norwich skipper Matt Jackson was superb in rallying his co-defenders and as
the game wore on Forest eventually ran out of ideas.
The Canaries themselves had started quite brightly but most of their attacking
threat disappeared when Iwan Roberts was forced to leave the field after just 15
minutes through injury.
Without his experience Norwich had no-one to hold up the ball and as a
consequence Forest monopolised possession.
Their best chance of a breakthrough came in the 17th minute when the Norwich
goal had an amazing triple escape.
The danger came after Marlon Harewood had charged down a clearance by Andy
Marshall and Forest seized on the chance of capitalising.
Trinidad and Tobago striker Stern John saw his effort cleared off the line by
Jackson and Gary Jones and Ben Olsen saw similar efforts blocked by desperate
Norwich defending.
The nearest Forest came to a goal after that was just four minutes later when
a superb through-ball by Chris Bart-Williams set John up for a chance that he
screwed just wide of the post with Marshall beaten.
The Norwich keeper created a scare for himself when he spilled a shot from Jim
Brennan but Harewood's backheel from the loose ball never looked like crossing
the line.
Norwich attacks were few and far between and apart from a Zema Abbey header
that was comfortably saved by Dave Beasant and an attempted lob by Daryl Sutch
that cleared the bar, they had no efforts of note.
John might have done better with an early second-half chance from a cross by
Brennan and although Norwich were relieved that a penalty claim was denied when
Jones appeared to be tugged by Craig Fleming, the visitors grew in stature
towards the end of the game.
Norwich's only worry after that came from a Jones header that was deflected
past the post from Keith Foy's corner.
Teams
Nottm Forest: Beasant, Edwards, Bart-Williams, Vaughan, Olsen,
Prutton, Williams, Jones, Brennan (Foy 56), John (Reid 65),Harewood (Gray 83).
Subs Not Used: Roche, Calderwood.
Booked: Olsen, Edwards, John.
Norwich: Andy Marshall, Sutch, Lee Marshall, Fleming, Jackson,
Roberts (Coote 16), Mulryne (Kenton 65), Russell, Llewellyn,
Mackay, Abbey (Dalglish 83).
Subs Not Used: Green, McVeigh.
Booked: Russell, Mackay, Lee Marshall.
Att: 20,108
Ref: C Foy (St. Helens).
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