Football: Forest are reliant on Collymore

Wolverhampton Wanderers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Nottingham Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

WOLVES, reeling from the revelation earlier in the day that Geoff Thomas was likely to miss the rest of the season, suffered a further setback in last night's First Division match as one of their rejects made a goalscoring return to Molineux in Nottingham Forest's colours.

Stan Collymore, discarded as a teenage trainee by Graham Turner, struck soon after the interval to nullify an early opener by David Kelly. Following the news about their club captain - Thomas has already had an operation on Tuesday to rectify cruciate-ligament damage in his right knee - it was adding insult to injury.

Given that this was the collision of the summer's big spenders, the quality of the football at times left something to be desired. Forest, who deployed David Phillips as sweeper after seeing Steve Bull's hat-trick rampage at Derby, were probably happier with their point, though there was little in a surprisingly rugged encounter to suggest that they are about to surge up the table.

Frank Clark, the Forest manager, admitted his team had been 'all over the place' in the first quarter of the game, during which Kelly collected his seventh goal for Wolves with a looping back-header after 13 minutes. As a possible portent for next week's World Cup decider in Belfast, where Kelly will be involved with the Republic, the beaten keeper was Northern Ireland's Tommy Wright.

Clark felt it was not unfamiliarity with an alien system which caused Forest grief, but rather their inability to win 50-50 challenges. Stuart Pearce soon corrected that situation, angering the home support in the process, and gradually Forest began to take the game to Wolves.

Lee Glover hit the post 11 minutes before half-time, and Mike Stowell twice had to show agility between the posts before Forest deservedly drew level in the 50th minute. Collymore left two defenders in his wake before drawing Stowell and scoring his 12th goal in 13 appearances with a well-placed shot.

Bull, who had scooped over from almost under Wright's bar in the sixth minute, miscued badly from his only other opportunity immediately after Collymore's riposte. Kelly also headed just wide, but Turner swallowed the frustation of more dropped home points and a 'kick in the teeth' over Thomas to reflect on 'a very acceptable performance'.

Whether a continuation of Wolves' stop-go form proves acceptable to their ambitious president, Sir Jack Hayward, remains to be seen. Sir Jack, incidentally, suffered a disappointment of his own last night when councillors voted against giving him the freedom of the town. It was that kind of day for Wolves.

Wolverhampton Wanderers (5-3-2): Stowell; Thompson, Shirtliff, Mountfield, Venus, Edwards; Birch, Cook, Keen; D Kelly, Bull. Substitutes not used: Rankine, Regis, Jones (gk).

Nottingham Forest (1-4-3-2): Wright; Phillips; Lyttle, Cooper, Chettle, Pearce; Crosby, Stone, Gemmill; Glover, Collymore. Substitutes not used: Laws, Black, Crossley (gk).

Referee: P Wright (Northwich).