Forest give it away

The first home game of the season saw a large turnout from the Forest supporters, obviously buoyed by the performance last week.

Forest continued to dominate the possession for the opening of the game but the quality of the passing was beginning to deteriorate and as the half progressed Brentwood began to have more of the play. The game however was still being played predominantly in the Brentwood half.

As the game approached the end of the first quarter, Forest cleared the ball from about 10 yards inside there own half. David Keen just flicked the ball forward and it looked like an easy clearance for Brentwood. But under pressure from Grant, the defender let the ball through his legs and Grant was onto the loose ball in a flash. Breaking straight at the goal, as the goalkeeper committed himself, Grant calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner for his and Forest's second.

The goal led to the Brentwood heads dropping and also led to Forest relaxing and becoming complacent. The game slowed and the quality deteriorated. Forest's midfield began to lose its shape and Brentwood began to fill the space. But even then Brentwood failed to have any shots at the Forest goal.

The Forest complacency grew and in stoppage time at the end of the half, Brentwood played a hopeful long clearance forward. Jack Hawthorn should have cleared the ball comfortably but missed judged the ball and the Brentwood striker broke. There was no cover for Jack and the striker had a one-on-one against Elliott Thwaites in the Forest goal who was slow off of his line. The striker was composed, under no pressure, and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to give Brentwood a hope for the second half.

The second half started as much of the first had been played. Brentwood were being forced to defend and the game was being played in the Brentwood half. Passing was poor from both sides but at this stage the game was just being edged by Forest. Chances were being created and the corner count was growing in Forest's favour.

Disaster struck for Forest in the 56th minute. Brentwood won the ball on their right, inside their own half. The ball was played quickly forward and amazingly to an unmarked Brentwood player 20 yards inside the Forest half. He quickly moved forward and took the chance superbly sliding the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal for the equaliser.

The nature of the game changed completely. Forest's game had been deteriorating since the opening 10 minutes. Now it fell apart. The midfield began to be completely dominated by Brentwood. Forest resorted to a kick-and-chase game. Whilst this did cause some chances for Andrey Kotov, the Brentwood defence were finding this a lot easier to defend against than when the ball had been moved around and passed. Brentwood began to gain more possession and attacked the Forest defence. With the Forest midfield out of position, Brentwood's attacks began to have more purpose and they clearly began to grow in confidence. In the 65th minute a Brentwood attack saw the ball fall to a Brentwood striker on the edge of the area. His scuffed shot looked easy to be saved by the Forest 'keeper but amazingly he made no effort to save the shot and just watched the ball slowly pass him and end in the bottom corner for Brentwood to take the lead.

Forest were in self destruct mode. Just 5 minutes later and they gifted another goal to Brentwood. Lewis White had the ball under control 10 yards in front of his goal area. He decided to pass the ball across his goal towards Alex Chapman, but the pass was too soft and was played directly into the Brentwood striker's path. He took the chance superbly, chipping the keeper from 30 yards.

Forest's game continued to fall apart. The play was rushed and panicked with no-one having any composure on the ball. The game ended with Forest suffering a humiliating defeat.