PRESERVING FOOTBALL HISTORY - Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest - Malmö FF
NF : Shilton; Anderson, Lloyd, Burns, Clark; Francis, McGovern, Bowyer, Robertson; Woodcock, Birtles	1-0	MFF : Moller; R.Andersson, Jonsson, M.Andersson, Erlandsson; Tapper (Malmberg), Ljungberg, Prytz, Kinnvall; Hansson (T.Andersson), Cervin

Francis 45th

1978-79 Champions Cup

Final
30 May 1979

Match Code:C024
Running Time : Approx. 100 min.
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English

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All that glitters was not entirely golden in Munich last night, but as an old Bayern veteran of three European Cup final triumphs said: ""It is not important to play well in big matches. It is important to win them.""

Nottingham Forest were seldom near their best, but their historic victory did set even more records. They are the first club to win the trophy at their first attempt. Their victory means that England is the first nation to provide three European champions. And to put the icing on the cake, Europe s first ever £1 Million football match was settled by a brilliant goal from England s first £1 Million player Trevor Francis.

The Golden goal came in injury time at the end of the first-half. Ian Bowyer replacing the injured Archie Gemmill in every sense in mid-field, sent John Robertson galloping down the left-wing.

For the first time in the game Robertson was not surrounded by at least three Malmo defenders. For the first time in the game he reached the by-line and his perfectly flighted centre looped over Swedish goalkeeper Jan Moller and his defenders for Francis to dive and head into the roof of the net.

It was a goal befitting the occasion in Munich s magnificent Olympic Stadium. But the match will hardly be remembered as a classic by the football purists among the crowd of over 70,000 - most of whom seemed to be wearing the red and white favours of Forest.

The noise was deafening as Forest kicked off and the pattern of the game was soon established. Forest flowed forward and Malmo s tactics alternated between a packed defence and a frustrating offside trap. First to fall into the trap was Garry Birtles. Within seconds of the kick-off, Viv Anderson who had a better game as a support attacker rather than as a defender sent Birtles in pursuit of a through ball that had Moller racing out of his penalty area to clear - but the linesman s flag saved Malmo early embarrassment.

With Larry Lloyd completely dominant in the air Malmo s attacks appeared to be more in hope than expectation and Forest s thousands in the stands sat back to await goals that seemed inevitable.

The first big chance was created after ten minutes by Frank Clark who showed no signs of the groin injury which had threatened his making a fairy tale appearance at the summit of European football at the age of 35. His quick through ball enabled Birtles to beat the offside trap and outrun the Swedish defence. And the striker who had scored against all four opponents on the way to the final looked to have struck again as his brilliant chip cleared the advancing goalkeeper. But the roar of delight choked in thousands of throats as the ball cleared the bar and nestled on the roof of the net.

Within 60 seconds they were roaring again. This time Bowyer raced through but Malmo defender Ingemar Erlandsson stuck out a boot to concede a corner. As Robertson floated it over, Moller dropped the ball but Malmo defender Anders Ljundberg was back to clear as Lloyd challenged strongly.

Another minute on, Malmo had their clearest chance of the match. Kenny Burns, who otherwise did not put a foot wrong all night, ballooned a clearance back towards his own goal to leave striker Jan Olof Kinnvall with only keeper Peter Shilton standing between him and glory.

But Shilton stood firm and the attacker merely kicked the ball straight up in the air. The goalkeeper controlled the situation from then on - just as he dominated every other Malmo excursion into the Forest danger area.

Francis, who had a brilliant first half, first made his presence made with a 40-yard run which ended with him being bundled over. Though the free kick was half cleared, John McGovern burst into the penalty area but shot wide.

The temperature of the match - played in the cool of the evening after a blistering day in which temperatures had reached the mid-80 s - rose dramatically after 15 minutes. The busy Bowyer challenged for a high ball in midfield and laid out his opposite number Magnus Andersson, angered the rest of the Malmo team and earned a swift rebuke from the referee. The touch of steel spurred Forest - and for a time Francis took complete control of the more meaningful proceedings.

First he beat three men with a stunning display of close control but his low cross sped fractionally behind Tony Woodcock and was scooped for a corner. Then Francis freed Anderson down the right and the full-back s centre floated over both Birtles and Woodcock and when Robertson chipped it back Roland Andersson was happy to concede another corner. Another high cross from Francis had three Forest players queuing unmarked for a crack at goal but Lloyd s downward header was scrambled away as Birtles hunted for a shooting chance. The Ljundberg was spoken to by the referee for a late, late tackle on Francis.

A rare Malmo attack ended with Viv Anderson holding Kinnvall on the edge of the Forest penalty area. Though they were given two chances from the indirect free kick, Malmo merely managed to concede a free kick themselves - ironically for offside. Forest seemed to lose their way a little in the face of Malmo s offside tactics but almost opened the scoring after 29 minutes.

Woodcock again showed superb control in the penalty area to lay on a shot for McGovern. The hardworking captain fired powerfully left footed, but fractionally beyond Moller s right-hand post. Then McGovern s determination took him past three men on the right to give Bowyer the chance to fire a shot of similar power low to Moller s right. The tall goalkeeper allowed the ball to squirm free, but grabbed it as it rolled slowly towards the line.

Malmo s problems multiplied when their captain for the night, Stefan Tapper, limped off after 34 minutes. They had been forced to start the match without two of their best defenders, both injured in earlier European Cup games, and it was a sign of their desperate lack of experience that Tapper appeared at all. For he broke a toe in the last minute of a training session last night and Malmo manager Bob Houghton explained later: ""We thought that there was a good chance that once he taped his foot and got his shoe on, it would get better as the game went on. But it did not work out that way.""

Very little that Malmo attempted did work out and soon Francis was tormenting their defence again. Playing virtually as an old fashioned right winger, he tricked his way past three tackles and crossed to John Robertson. But such was the depth of Malmo s defence that Robertson found himself crowded out by three defenders.

With five minutes to go to half time, Birtles flick on gave Woodcock the chance to speed through the square Malmo defence for the clearest chance of the game. But the English striker pushed the ball too far ahead and the advancing Moller was able to smother it. The first half whistle was overdue when Forest struck the decisive blow. Bowyer s pass out of midfield sent Robertson galloping down the left, Francis headlong dive speared the ball into the net - and the stadium seemed full of red and white banners.

The neutrals among the crowd has clearly adopted Forest as their favourites - and a firework lit up the night sky as the ""Super-Reds"" re-emerged for the second half. But Forest rarely sparkled and first Clark and then Burns needed all their experience to cut out darting runs by Tore Cervin who resembled a lone ranger as Malmo hunted for an equaliser. Then Shilton advanced to foil Cervin with Forest s defence standing, looking for an offside decision.

Robertson whose contributions to the game were fitful, brought a semblance of class with a 30 yard pass which sent Birtles racing to the line to win a corner. But it came to nothing with Robertson suffering from a lack of space and an abundance of markers - problems which afflicted him for most of the night.

Birtles missed a glorious chance of scoring a second goal for Forest when Woodcock helped on a massive clearance by Shilton. With only Moller to beat from less than 10 yards Birtles lofted the bar high over the bar. Robertson went even closer after 63 minutes, lashing a close range shot against Moller s right hand post after another brilliant run by Francis had the Malmo defence in total disarray.

But Malmo stuck stubbornly to the task, limited though they were in attacking ideas. Cervin won a free kick on the edge of the Forest penalty area but his striking partner Tommy Hanson capped a quiet game by blasting his shot high over the bar.

On the hour magnificent skills mixed with determination took Woodcock through the massed defence. He chipped the ball over the goalkeeper but as the crowd rose again in anticipation of a goal, it drifted away past the far post.

And that just about summed up the second half. Forest came so close to totally over running Malmo - but were so far from breaking their determination. For example, Robertson was fouled three times in a minute, took the third free kick himself - and saw the ball skim off Lloyd s head and go narrowly wide again.

Cervin, doing his best to ruffle the composure of the Forest defence, managed to get his head to a left wing corner but could not direct the ball well enough to trouble Shilton. The Goalkeeper did, however, have to rush out to collect a through ball from Erlandsson, Sweden s Footballer of the Year, as 18-year-old Robert Prytz rushed in unnoticed and unmarked.

Then Anderson got in a vital tackle as Cervin bore in on the otherwise unprotected Shilton. With seven minutes to go Malmo pulled off the ineffective Hansson and sent in yet another midfielder, Tommy Andersson.

But the last act of the game was left to Forest s Anderson. He raced up field to support a break by Francis - and was caught offside. It was the 16th time Forest had been caught offside - but the crowd were past caring. Even the German were singing: ""We all agree, Nottingham Forest are Magic."" They weren t as magic as they can be - but they had done more than enough to win the cup.