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Nottingham Forest (a) Stuart Pearce Testimonial
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Date: Wednesday 8th May 1996, 8pm (advertised as 7.30pm) Venue: The City Ground Conditions: pleasant Admission: £12 (had been £17 for PL game) Programme: £3.50 (A4 size brochure) |
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Nottingham Forest |
Newcastle |
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6 - 5 |
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| Half time: | 2 - 1 | |
| Score Sheet: | ||
(2) Roy
(16) Woan
(56) Cooper
(61) Black
(79) Crossley
(80) Pearce |
|
Ferdinand
(42)
Ferdinand (51)
Guinan (72) Barton (74)
Keegan (87pen)
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Teams |
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Crossley Lyttle Cooper Walker Pearce Bart-Williams Clough McAllister Woan Lee Roy |
Hislop Watson Elliott Peacock Albert Batty Lee Ferdinand Gillespie Ginola Asprilla |
|
| Substitutes: | ||
|
(46) Fettis for
Crossley |
Srnicek
for Hislop
(46) Barton for Watson (46) Beresford for Elliott (46) Clark for Lee (46) Guinan for Asprilla (70) McDermott for Ginola (81) Keegan for Ferdinand (81) |
|
| Subs not used: | ||
| None tbc | None tbc | |
| Bookings: | ||
| None | None | |
| Dismissals: | ||
| None | None | |
|
Referee: Ray
Pearce (brother of Stuart....) |
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|
Attendance: 23,818
including around 1,000 Newcastle fans in the Bridgford Lower Stand.
There
was a half time pitch presentation to Pearce of framed discs by two members
of Madness.
|
||
Goals |
2 mins Roy 0-1
16 mins Woan 0-2
42 mins Ferdinand 1-2
Half time: Forest 2 Newcastle 1
51
mins Ferdinand 2-2
56 mins Cooper 2-3
61 mins Black 2-4
72 mins Guinan 3-4
74 mins Barton 4-4
79 mins Crossley 4-5
80 mins Pearce 4-6
87 mins Keegan penalty 5-6
Full time: Forest 6 Newcastle 5
We Said |
KK:
To follow
Steve Guinan:
"I
was on the Forest bench and looking forward to the chance of having a crack
against a side that was the talk of football.
"But just before kick-off, Keegan said one of their players had injured themselves in the warm-up and could he pinch one of ours?
"I imagined my Forest team-mate Bobby Howe would have bitten Keegan’s arm off seeing he was Geordie born and bred. But Bobby said he was too nervous, how could he play for the Toon alongside all those stars?
"I thought, 'I’ll have some of this!’ I sat on the Newcastle bench for the first half but had a problem at half-time because I didn’t know which dressing-room to go in.
"Keegan told me to come in with them. Anyway, the second half started and after about 65 minutes he said 'Are you ready then? I bet you’ve always wanted to play for us...’
"And on I went for Les Ferdinand. It was totally surreal. I did a high five with Les and he said "Good luck, son - whoever you are!"
"It was brilliant. I was a reserve player used to crowds of 500 and suddenly I was knocking balls around to Asprilla, Ginola, Rob Lee and the rest in front of a full-house 30,000.
"I set up a goal for Warren Barton and then scored myself with a six-yard header. Colin Cooper and Des Lyttle gave me a right coating. Colin came out with the classic, "so whose side do you think you’re on, sunshine?’
"I trooped off at the
end, got changed and didn’t know what to do with my kit. Keegan said, 'You
keep it, son. One day you might have a tale to tell about the night you scored
for Newcastle’."
Waffle |
Less than a week after being held to a 1-1
draw at the venue that effectively blew our title chances, United returned
to the City Ground provide the opposition in the Stuart Pearce
Testimonial.
Our long-standing commitment to appear in this game had been mocked days
previously by the Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson - who questioned
whether Forest would go easy on Newcastle in that preceding league game.
That then resulted in Kevin Keegan giving his infamous "love
it..." speech to Sky cameras following Newcastle's televised 1-0 victory at Leeds -
his emotional response to Fergie mentioning Pearce by name, a reference that passed many
viewers by at the time.
Coming five days after the final
competitive game of the season, a hugely enjoyable evening was a decent
enough way for disappointment to make way for
A full-strength United side (apart from the injured Peter Beardsley) were
augmented in the closing stages by the arrival of both Keegan and
assistant Terry
McDermott. The former netted from the penalty spot in front of the toon
following and threw his shirt into the crowd at full time.
Guesting for Forest was Coventry midfielder Garry McAllister, while their
goalkeeper Mark Crossley later had a cameo outfield role and found the net.
The goal of the night however was a blockbuster effort from home defender
Colin Cooper, after which he promptly walked off the pitch!
Among the scorers for United was Forest reserve striker Steve Guinan,
whose name wasn't announced and was promptly dubbed "mystery
man" by the travelling support.
At the time it was claimed that Forest boss Frank Clark had asked KK if
Brummie Guinan could play for United as he came from a family of Toon fans
- however this myth was subsequently debunked by Guinan himself in 2005 -
when he was part of the Cheltenham Town side we beat in the FA Cup.
Denied his original choice of Glasgow Rangers on police advice, Pearce
made around £200K from the visit of United, with kick-off delayed by 30 minutes to 8pm in order to get the crowd
in.
Just over a year later, Forest had been relegated and Pearce had moved to
United, after a brief spell in charge at the City Ground in succession to
Frank Clark. By 2001 he'd become Keegan's first signing after becoming
Manchester City boss - taking over as manager when KK left in 2005.
