Nottingham Forest had football's version of an 11th-hour reprieve as
Marians Pahars' late equaliser for Southampton at The Dell staved off relegation
for the City Ground club.
Pahars scored five minutes from time to force a 3-3 draw with Blackburn on the
south coast and ensure Forest can still stay up mathematically.
Had Rovers or Charlton won, Ron Atkinson's side would have gone down today but
their fate is now likely to be sealed in the next seven days, with the Addicks
hosting Tottenham in midweek and Forest going to Aston Villa on Saturday.
Steffen Iversen was the man whose goal put the Midlanders within touching
distance of relegation, the Norwegian firing home on 62 minutes after Christian
Edwards had failed to properly clear Chris Armstrong's cross.
Mark Crossley should have done better with Iversen's shot, the keeper getting
his hands to the near-post effort but merely helping it into the net.
However, anything other than a Spurs victory would have been an
injustice, such was their dominance.
Crossley, who denied Gary Lineker from the spot in the 1991 FA Cup final
between the teams, saved an Allan Nielsen penalty deep into first-half stoppage
time after Richard Gough had fouled Iversen.
Edwards also had to clear off the line with the Forest keeper stranded after
Tim Sherwood had turned the ball goalwards.
Armstrong had good claims for a penalty waved away when he appeared to be
upended by Edwards, while the striker headed over from six yards out after the
home defence - not for the first time this season - had gone AWOL.
As the hosts pressed forward looking for a draw, Nielsen fired just wide and
Armstrong failed to cross to Iversen with the goal gaping.
Forest had a handful of chances, with Dougie Freedman again their most
dangerous player by some distance.
He forced Ian Walker into a good save, while the Scot sent an effort onto the
roof of the net immediately after Iversen scored.
With time running out, Walker denied Marlon Harewood when the young striker
found himself in the clear but an equaliser would not come.
All in all, it was a sorry day for Forest but their poor performance was
little different to the ones they have produced week in, week out this
campaign.
The Premiership grim reaper has been eyeing up the City Ground for some months
now - the only issue has been who would put them out of their top flight
misery.
Forest have been on football's version of death row since February, with it
being a matter of when rather than if last season's Division One champions would
go straight back to the Nationwide League, and today's stay of execution is
unlikely to be repeated.
Dave Bassett could not halt the slide and paid the price, while Ron Atkinson
came in too late to have any realistic chance of staving off what is now an
inevitable relegation - their third in seven years.
But one has had the feeling for most of the season that even Roy Race, the man
who has performed so many comic-book miracles for Melchester Rovers, would have
been unable to keep Forest up, such was the team's plight during and after their
Premier League-record run of 19 matches without a win.
Only four members of the team which kicked off the campaign at Arsenal in
August started today and that, as much as anything, shows up their problems.
Pierre van Hooijdonk's three-month strike did not help; neither did the sale
of Kevin Campbell - now proving his worth with crucial goals for struggling
Everton - and then Colin Cooper.
The money that has been used to bring in players has not been spent very
wisely, with £1.5million striker Neil Shipperley for one proving far from good
value.
To put it simply, Forest have been nowhere near top-flight standard this
season and could end with the lowest number of points in the Premier League's
six-year history - they are six short of the current record of 27.
They have little left to play for but pride and the team, and their
long-suffering fans, are now resigned to beginning the new Millennium in Division
One.
Teams
Nottm Forest: Crossley, Jean, Edwards (Stensaas 73), Gough,
Chettle, Bonalair (Woan 20), Johnson, Rogers, Van Hooijdonk,
Shipperley (Harewood 80), Freedman.
Subs Not Used: Beasant, Mattsson.
Booked: Gough, Johnson, Chettle.
Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Freund, Nielsen,
Ferdinand (Anderton 46), Armstrong, Iversen, Taricco, Campbell,Sherwood, Young.
Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Nilsen, Fox, Ginola.
Booked: Nielsen.
Goals: Iversen 62.
Att: 25,181.
Ref: G Willard (Worthing).
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