Nottingham Forest F.C. 1–8 Manchester United F.C.

Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United

The City Ground, the venue of the match
Event 1998–99 FA Premier League
Nottingham Forest Manchester United
1 8
Date 6 February 1999
Venue City Ground, Nottingham
Referee Paul Alcock (Kent)
Attendance 30,025

The 1998–99 season match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground took place on 6 February 1999. Manchester United won the match 8–1, thereby recording the largest away win in the history of the Premier League.[1] Substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored four of Manchester United's eight goals, setting a record for the most goals scored by a substitute in one match. This is also one of the rare occurrences when United played a football match on the anniversary date of the Munich air disaster.

Background

Manchester United began the month of February on top of the Premier League by one point after beating Charlton Athletic 1–0 away, while then-league leaders Chelsea lost away to Arsenal by the same margin.[2] Another 1–0 win over Derby County in mid-week extended United's lead to four points going into the weekend of 6 February 1999.[3]

Despite a 1–0 win away to Everton on 30 January – their first win since August 1998 – Nottingham Forest went into the weekend rooted to the bottom of the table, with just three wins to their name all season and only 16 points, 31 behind their opponents.[3] Ron Atkinson had replaced Dave Bassett as Forest manager the previous month, and the United clash was to be his third match at the Forest helm.[4]

Before the match, the two teams had met 104 times in competitive matches, with Manchester United winning 47 and Nottingham Forest winning 33. The two teams had a similar record in the league, with Manchester United leading 43–29 in terms of wins. They also met in the 1992 Football League Cup Final, which Manchester United won 1–0 via a Brian McClair goal. Nottingham Forest's biggest home win against Manchester United came on 2 May 1990, when they won 4–0 in front of 21,186 fans at the City Ground, while Manchester United's biggest win at Nottingham Forest was a 5–1 victory on 12 December 1959 in front of 31,666 spectators.[5]

Match

Summary

Dwight Yorke opened the scoring for Manchester United in the second minute, turning home Paul Scholes' right-wing cross after David Beckham's corner from the left had evaded everyone in the penalty area. Alan Rogers equalised five minutes later after good interplay with Jean-Claude Darcheville, only for Andy Cole to restore United's lead less than a minute later; the English forward was put through by a long ball from the back by Jaap Stam, before rounding Forest goalkeeper Dave Beasant to hit a shot from a narrow angle that defender Jon Olav Hjelde was unable to keep out.

Shambolic defending in the second half allowed Cole and Yorke to add one more each, before Yorke was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjær up front in the 72nd minute. With 10 minutes left on the clock, David Beckham spotted an overlapping right-wing run from Gary Neville, and the England full-back played the ball across the face of the goal area. The ball came to Solskjær on the far side of the goal, where he was able to side-foot home from two yards. Solskjær got his second in the 88th minute after he beat the offside trap to be played in by Beckham. As Beasant advanced to narrow the angle, Solskjær's attempted chip was stopped by the Forest 'keeper. However, the ball broke back to Solskjær, who took the ball round Beasant before hitting the ball into the top-right corner of the goal from the right side of the penalty area. As the game entered its closing stages, Paul Scholes played a one-two with Jesper Blomqvist and then hit a no-look pass to Solskjær. The Norwegian forward took one touch with his left foot to control the ball and then hit a right-footed volley past Beasant for his hat-trick. Solskjær's fourth goal – and United's eighth – came in injury time at the end of the second half; Nicky Butt broke into the Nottingham Forest penalty area and played the ball back across the goal to Paul Scholes. Scholes mis-cued his shot, but the ball came to Solskjær, who side-footed it past the onrushing Beasant.

Solskjær later claimed that he had not expected to come on once United went 4–1 up. Nevertheless, United manager Alex Ferguson told the Norwegian to warm up so that he could come on in place of Yorke. As Solskjær was about to come on, United first team coach Jimmy Ryan advised him to play conservatively and pass the ball around, advice of which Solskjær took little heed.

Only ten shots in the match were on target by either team - nine of these were goals. This is a record in the Premier League for highest shots on target to goals ratio (90%).

Match details

6 February 1999
15:00 GMT
Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United
Rogers  6' Report Yorke  2', 67'
Cole  7', 50'
Solskjær  80', 88', 90', 90'
City Ground, Nottingham
Attendance: 30,025
Referee: Paul Alcock (Kent)
Nottingham Forest
Manchester United
GK 1 England Dave Beasant
RB 30United States John Harkes
CB 15England Craig Armstrong  84'
CB 6 Norway Jon Olav Hjelde
LB 3 England Alan Rogers
RM 7 England Steve Stone
CM 20England Carlton Palmer
CM 10Wales Andy Johnson
LM 8 Scotland Scot Gemmill  57'
CF 40Netherlands Pierre van Hooijdonk
CF 19France Jean-Claude Darcheville  26'
Substitutes:
GK 13Wales Mark Crossley
DF 25Sweden Jesper Mattsson  57'
MF 11England Chris Bart-Williams
MF 31Portugal Hugo Porfírio  79'  74'
FW 14Scotland Dougie Freedman  26'
Manager:
England Ron Atkinson
GK 1 Denmark Peter Schmeichel
RB 2 England Gary Neville
CB 5 Norway Ronny Johnsen
CB 6 Netherlands Jaap Stam
LB 12England Phil Neville  81'
RM 7 England David Beckham
CM 18England Paul Scholes
CM 16Republic of Ireland Roy Keane (c)  37'  72'
LM 15Sweden Jesper Blomqvist  86'
CF 19Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke  72'
CF 9 England Andy Cole
Substitutes:
GK 17Netherlands Raimond van der Gouw
DF 4 England David May
DF 13England John Curtis  72'
MF 8 England Nicky Butt  86'
FW 20Norway Ole Gunnar Solskjær  72'
Manager:
Scotland Alex Ferguson
Assistant referees
Fourth official

MATCH RULES

  • 90 minutes.
  • No extra time or penalties.
  • Five named substitutes.
  • Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics

Nottingham Forest Manchester United
Goals scored 1 8
Shots on target 2 8
Shots off target 4 4
Hit woodwork 1 1
Corner kicks 4 7
Yellow cards 1 2
Red cards 0 0

References

  1. ↑ "Man United 9-0 Ipswich, Newcastle 8-0 Sheff Weds and Spurs 9-1 Wigan: Top 10 Premier League goal-fests". MirrorFootball.co.uk (Trinity Mirror). 29 August 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "English Premier League 1998-1999 : Table on 31.01.1999". statto.com. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 "English Premier League 1998-1999 : Table on 03.02.1999". statto.com. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "On this day in history ~ Premier League, 1999". wsc.co.uk (When Saturday Comes). 6 February 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Endlar, Andrew. "United versus Nottingham Forest". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 Match programme, p. 56
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