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To Europe! …for one final time, possibly. Who knows when this experience will come around again? Another thirty year wait? Or if we play our cards right, we can still finish 7th in the PL. Steady the buffers, etc.

You know how this plays out by now. The team news drops (whilst I was in the shower, actually, with Sir Colin of West Bridgford on the waterproof bluetooth speaker). Morato. Oh. I have a bad feeling about this. We do love our anti-heroes at Forest.

Villa Park was spectacular ahead of KO, rising to the occasion. I remember the last time I was there for a semi - West Ham in the FA Cup, April 1991. I don’t recall tifos, fireworks and Europa League anthems.

“Who the fucking hell are you?”

…as West Ham ran out.

Forest were under the cosh, right from the start. You don’t say. In my mind, I resolved that we would be 1-0 down heading into the break. My hope was that we could SHIT HOUSE it out, and hang on for extra time and pens.

Our passing game was strangled by Villa in midfield. We missed MGW big time. Gaps appeared all over the midfield. McAtee is a very lightweight figure.

The volume at Villa Park only grew louder with the inevitable goal. I’m not digging out the Forest fans, but I couldn’t hear them throughout the 90 minutes on the telly. The atmosphere was very different to Villa Vs #lolspurs last Sunday.

We did well to hang on to HT with only the one goal against us. Time to regroup, time to urgently find a Plan B. Cometh the hour, cometh, erm, Ryan Yates. It would be quite some story if the Forest Academy player could lead us towards a major European final.

I’ve watched all our Europa League games this season totally stress free. The PL has been intense and horrid; the Europa is a nice jolly of a distraction. This kinda continued as the second, third and then fourth Villa goal went in.

Oh dear. This is not happening, right?

It’s been a messy, joyous and utterly BONKERS season for Forest. And there’s possibly still more to come. Farewell Europe - for now. We still need to put in a performance against Newcastle on Sunday to guarantee PL survival.

No one wants to be leading the charge of: To D***y! …next season.

I had the need to get out of the house. wfh with a friendly plasterer plastering around the house is no fun. I decided on an Estuary Wilds circuit walk. Nothing too radical, the usual waddle up towards the Creek, around through Alresford and then back to base. BONUS that I had the Olympus PEN-F with me to snap, snap, snap away.

The colours around the Muddy Banks were transitional. They weren’t sure if we are in late spring or entering early summer. The chill in the air suggested caution before you start wishing your days away.

The tide was stuck, also unsure which direction to shift. No one else was out there. A lone cuckoo on the other side of the Muddy Banks attempted to strike up a conversation with me. I put on a Forest podcast. SUCK IT UP, Woody.

A decent 10km-ish circuit.

A game of power over spin at the Table of Dreams for Tuesday afternoon. The earlier pleasant spring weather had turned. It was a little breezy out there. Arseing around with fancy spin shots in no way to keep warm. TWAT it and keep your body moving.

My extra strength somehow led to a surprise 3-2 win. There was talk of playing on to see if my partner could come back in the game. BALLS to that. Quit whilst you’re ahead. I even managed to celebrate with a Drop the Bat moment.

Proof that there aren’t actually 1,001 albums you must listen to before you die.

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I was up towards the top end of the town with a little time to spare. And when I say the top end of the town, woh - I mean the very top. We’re talking Wivenhoe Park basically. It would be rude not to have a bit of a shifty and a wander around my old haunt, right?

Our University time these days is restricted to more or less basketball watching. Straight in, straight out. I took the time today to walk around the sports pitches, down to the lakes, through the North Towers wind tunnel, and then back up again towards the Sports Arena. Back in the day and that would have been my exercise for the entire term.

Campus was relatively quiet. Exam season, innit. I kinda blended in, and just about got awy with it. I’d wager in ten years time then my young-ish Boy About Town looks won’t be quite so forgiving.

Next!

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These Forest Crap Match Reports come round quicker than another SHIT THE BED moment for the Reds. Monday afternoon in West London was no different. A 3-1 away win against the World Club Champions, with the Forest B team playing? I didn’t see that one coming. Does this now make Forest the current World Club Champions? Steady the buffers.

The team news landed. DEEP breath. Blimey. Talk about calling Emery’s bluff. The Garibaldi conspiracy theory of Villa forcing Forest to play their A team ahead of the Europa semi, after ‘allowing’ #lolspurs to win on Sunday, backfired big time. Pereira called Emery’s bluff. Anything you can do, I can do better. And that includes starting with the stiffs.

Calling Taiwo a stiff is a little unfair. He made his 100th appearance for Forest at one of his favourite hunting grounds for goals. Surely he couldn’t, could he? Erm… I hadn’t even settled with the BBC Radio Nottingham audio sync with the telly pictures as Big T celebrated. Expect Chelsea to bid £40m for him over the summer.

A second soon followed, after Taiwo was pulled from behind in the box and a penalty was awarded. I didn’t mind who took it, but it would have been ACE to see T smash it home. JESUS, etc. It wasn’t quite the same TWATTING of a Chris Wood pen, but they all count.

This then became an exhausting watch. The endless VAR reviews - surprisingly going our way - and injuries made this a very, very nervy watch, despite Forest never really being in any danger. The third goal for the Reds was another T special, after some impressive work down the wing from MGW. A man can have no greater love than 90 minutes and his friends, etc.

SHOUT OUT to, oh, where to start? I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but there was some genuine 10/10 performances from the likes of Morato, Netz and Bakwa. All the fringe players could yet to prove their worth during the final run in as we chase European glory, balanced with PL survival.

And so with five wins in a row, and ten unbeaten, one half of the above could be completed next weekend. A win for Forest against Newcastle should keep us safe. Failing that and a West Ham defeat in the later Super Sunday KO away at Arsenal will get us over the line. We’re SO close…

Chelsea were crap btw. Nasty club, nasty fans. So there.

There’s a fantastic Forest conspiracy theory doing the rounds right now as we reach the PL / Europa run-in. It goes along the lines of Emery picking a weakened side for Villa against #lolspurs, with little interest in winning that match.

The logic is that a Spurs win on Sunday would motivate the need for Forest to beat Chelsea away on Monday. We’d have to play the A team, and not the stiffs and summer transfer rejects. This in turn would tire us out ahead of the second leg of the Europa semi against Villa on Thursday.

I’m starting to believe in conspiracy theories. The Villa 2-0 home defeat against #lolspurs was the worst ‘professional’ football performance that I’ve ever seen. I use to quite like Villa. All respect for the club has been lost overnight.

Tinfoil hats will be worn at The Bridge later today.

TWO boats were out along the Estuary Wilds as part of WivGigs Social Sunday. We’re weren’t alone. There was plenty of other river traffic, bobbing and weaving along the Muddy Banks. I was on second stroke in Varuna. We managed to outpace the WADS and the Cadets, and then powered on towards Buoy 18.

The weather became changeable as we reached the mouth of the estuary. This was a day for pondering the dilemma of shorts or trackies, T-shirts or long sleeves? I decided to mix ‘n’ match my sartorial look, with bare legs, long sleeves.

There was plenty of water for us to explore, with another whopper of a high tide. The waves became a little choppy as we attempted our turn around Buoy 18. The conversation in the boat was football based, along with running injuries. I have a foot in both camps right now, so to speak.

I volunteered to jump out of Varuna as we approached the Sailing Club to secure her. It’s always a little hit and miss, dangling over the side, and waiting to reach the hard as the boat floats up towards the Sailing Club. TOUCHDOWN was achieved.

There was a BBQ breaking out by the Sailing Club. Sadly work commitments kept me away.

I don’t want to come across as a language snob, but I did struggle with this on account of the Portuguese. I tried to look beyond the language barrier, and focus on the music. But it was a little doom and gloom. The ballads work better than the attempts at Porto party tunes. The spoken word tracks had me skipping. And not in a good way.

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