Report
The way this game started one would have thought that Forest were in for a trouncing but nothing could be further from the truth. Cheshunt scored the opening goal through Cox in the second minute and Forest had to regroup and sort themselves out very quickly.
Cheshunt applied the pressure throughout the first half but when they did get past Forest’s excellent defence, Gavin King was there to make at least three stupendous saves.
The first came on 16 minutes when Marvin Walker raced down the left side only to be held up by Kim Karlsen. After some jiggery pokery Walker cut in and crossed for Obeng whose low hard shot was saved by the diving King, the ball going over the bar for a corner.
Within four minutes King was in action again coming out to the edge of his area to claim the ball from the feet of an onrushing Cheshunt forward. On one occasion Chesthunt and their supporters were celebrating a goal after a 20 yard shot to the right of the goal from Archer only for King to halt the celebrations with another full length diving save.
After half an hour Forest began to venture forward with more spirit and began to put some classy moves together, it seemed that they’d weathered the storm and were starting to prepare for the second half display.
As the half drew to its end Cheshunt, once again applied the pressure winning a string of corners but, once again, they could not break down the Forest defence.
On changing end we realised how much the first half was wind affected. During the first half the wind was blowing straight into Gavin King’s goal, now fates were reversed and, for once, the wind direction remained the same.
Forest drew level early in the second half when Warren Ryan refused to give up on a long ball down the right wing. He outpaced left back Sam Ledger after giving him a good ten yards start and managed to keep the ball in by the corner flag. He then cam in and beat the next defender to cross the ball to Mark Stein who was waiting on the edge of the six yard box.
Unlike Pires earlier in the day, Stein outjumped the defence and headed downwards and across Lovell in the home goal. Stein’s first goal for Forest showed all the class of an intelligent player.
Forest remained on the attack, looking for the winner and could have sown the game up on 83 minutes when Ryan again combined with Stein who sent a cross over for Arif Yozcu who was taken over in the penalty area denied what seemed an obvious penalty. From that attack Cheshunt went straight up the Forest end only for Archer to shoot well wide of the goal.
Forest spent much of the second half on the attack with Ryan and Stein combining to create more chances for each other. Field, Brown, Tickner and Baptiste stood solid and Elliot played a blinder to keep a well deserved point.