Report
Mark Stein underlined his goalscoring pedigree with two late goals to bring all three points to the home side, however it was a master substitution by manager Hakan Hayrettin that turned the tables on a solid but unadventurous Oxford City side.
With six first team players unavailable, the squad was down to the bare bones, this enabled Hayrettin to give the U18 scorer in last week’s cup final, Bradley Johnson a place on the bench.
The first half was a competition to see who could master the slippery conditions the quicker. Oxford pressed from the start but really lacked any cutting edge up front. Within ten minutes the home defence, marshalled by the impressive Wayne Brown took the upper hand and snuffed out most offensive moves that Oxford could muster.
Ian Barnes was sent to the uncharted territory of midfield to break down the Oxford attack and this too worked surprisingly well with Barnes covering every blade of grass in his assigned position.
Chances were few and far between for both sides but on 25 minutes Forest’s Dave Field had a scorcher of a shot turned around the post by ‘keeper Steve Benbow and moments later the ball fell to Stein in the six yard box but he was unable to use it quickly enough.
On three occasions Esayas Yhdego managed to string passes through Oxford’s flat defence but they were not timed perfectly enough to beat the off side trap or to find their man in a good position. This became a feature of Forest’s early play: good approach work and winning the ball only to be let down by a final pass.
Midway through the first half, Forest found their confidence and began to be more precise in their passing and managed to force a number of corners from which both Brown and Field caused major problems for the visiting defence.
Forest continued to press in the second half but home ‘keeper Gavin King had to make a good save from Oxford’s Chris Harper cutting in from the left. Stung into action, Forest returned to the visitors’ end and mounted a number of attacks.
On three occasions Forest managed to cause havoc in the Oxford penalty area by having a series of close range shots which ‘keeper Benbow and his defenders could only keep out of the goal by throwing bodies in the way.
The height of attack then changed with both Brown and Stein going close with headers.
Then, after 70 minutes Hayrettin brought on Robert Still who immediately changed the complexion of the game with his close control and pinpoint passing. First he popped up on the right and then on the left leaving the Oxford defence mesmerised with his laid back style.
On 80 minutes Stein got his first goal after sustained Forest pressure. Arif Yozcu sent over the next in a succession of corners which eluded the Oxford defence to find Stein on the edge of the six yard box to power the ball into the roof of the net.
Three minutes later, Stein sowed up the game when Field sent a ball out of defence and up the right wing. Still ran on to the ball and took it into the penalty area before crossing to Stein to score from close range.