Forest Go Top, Withe Four

Tuesday night games at the City Ground always have certain magic to me and we were about to see a lot of them. Forest entertained Ipswich Town next - a team that was very well respected. Their famous manager Bobby Robson had built a very disciplined side with a miserly defence that has started the season pretty well, lying in 7th place. It would be the night when Forest went back to the top of the first division with an awesome display including four goals from Peter Withe.

Ipswich's rather short history

I must admit I'd forgotten how "new" Ipswich Town were, compared to other teams, including last up, Norwich City. Although the club was formed in 1887, 23 years after Forest, they didn't go professional until 1936 and they only joined the football league two years later. So, just 74 years of league history to compare the clubs exist and only 33 years before this 1977-78 season.

Ipswich had only been in the league for half the time of Forest

Ipswich had only finished above Forest for 8 of those 33 years although, as with Norwich, six of those were the most recent. Forest and Ipswich had only played each other in competitive matches 20 times, Ipswich winning 6 of them, Forest 8 with six drawn.

Alf Ramsay leads Ipswich to the Title in 1962

However, despite being having a shorter history than most clubs, Ipswich achieved the ultimate prize in 1961-62 when they won the First Division championship having just won promotion. They did this under the tactical nous of Alf Ramsay, who would later become Sir Alf after leading England to their one piece of World Cup glory.

Ipswich celebrate winning the league immediately after getting promotion - Forest would follow suit

Ipswich Town First Division Champions 1961-62

Alf Ramsay's tactical innovation was key - but it didn't last. Ipswich finished 17th the next year

Some Ipswich fans have suggested that this was a greater achievement than Forest's but the truth is it was really just a flash in the pan. After winning the league Ipswich finished 17th next year and the season after that they were relegated back to the second division. Not like Forest, then.

After four seasons in the second tier, Ipswich returned to the top flight where they enjoyed a period of sustained excellence this time under another great manager destined to get the England job: Bobby Robson.

In the five years before 1977-78, Ipswich had the 3rd best record in England, a record they'd improve on themselves. In the three seasons between 1978-79 to 1981-1982, they were the second best English team (again to Liverpool, of course).

Ipswich, 3rd best side in England for the 5 seasons before this clash

So, this was a real test for Forest's sparkling start to the season. Bobby Robson had built a great side that included a lot of key players like Paul Mariner, Trevor Whymark, Kevin Beattie, Mick Mills and Brian Talbot. Ipswich had 5 players in the England squad, compared to Forests's 1.

The well-loved Bobby Robson

Paul Mariner

Mick Mills, Mick Mills, what's the score...?

Fresher at Nottingham University

All of this was going on as I was about to start university - at Nottingham, of course. I did also apply for a place at Bath, Birmingham, Keele and Leicester but it was Nottingham that I wanted to go to, and not only for the obvious reason - having my mum close by to do my washing - but also because my brother in law, who my sister had married a few days before - had told me lots of heroic tales about university life in Sherwood Hall. The fact that Forest were less than 10 km away was the icing on the cake.

I must admit I'd forgotten all about this until I was just reminded of it by my old mate, Boro, so named because - you'll never guess - he supports Middlesbrough. In fact it seemed pretty much every one of our crowd had a nickname which was, unimaginatively taken from the team he (I had no girl friends) supported. More on that as these blogs progress but for now, thanks to Boro, I am reminded that this was the first Forest match I went to whilst not living at home and that I could get to simply by catching a couple of buses.

Nottingham University

The Game

But despite all that impressive quality on paper, they were swept away on grass by one of the most impressive performances from Forest this season. Just before half time a Peter Withe header put Forest ahead and then in the second half, despite some impressive attacking play from Ipswich, requiring a couple of great saves from Shilton, Forest and Peter Withe stormed to get three more goals to win 4-0 although to be honest it could have been 6-2 or higher.

Peter Withe had now scored 10 goals in 9 games for Forest.

Withe is on fire - your defence is petrified

Forest Top Goal scorers on 5th October 1977

1. Peter Withe 10
2. Tony Woodcock, John Robertson 4
4 Ian Bowyer, Martin O'Neil 3
6 Kenny Burns

The Teams

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Colin Barrett, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Peter Withe, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Peter Withe 4.

Ipswich Town
1 Paul Cooper, 2 George Burley, 3 Leslie Tibbott, 4 Brian Talbot, 5 Alan Hunter, 6 Kevin Beattie, 7 Mick Mills, 8 Eric Gates, 9 Paul Mariner, 10 Trevor Whymark, 11 Clive Woods.
Substitutions: Michael Lambert(12) came on for Brian Talbot (4).

Attendance: 26,845

Other Results

Again, other results went kindly for Forest. Leaders Manchester City lost at Coventry 4-2 and Liverpool drew at Arsenal so the stage was set for Forest to go to the very top - a position they would never let go of for the rest of the season.