By GORDON SHARROCK IT might be one of the tallest orders in football but Wanderers hope to wreck Nottingham Forest's record-breaking plans at the City Ground tomorrow.
Pointless in their first four away games and currently 19th in the table, the Burnden boys face the daunting prospect of taking on the only unbeaten team in the Premiership.
Indeed, Forest are aiming to stretch their unbeaten run to 23 games to establish a new Premier League mark to add to the 42-match Football League record they set between November 1977 and December 1978.
Clearly undaunted, Wanderers boss Colin Todd - a former Forest player himself - rose to the challenge today when he said: "The law of averages says they must lose at some time!
"Forest have done extremely well. Twenty-two games undefeated in the Premiership is an impressive run so it would be nice if we could go there and get something out of the game."
Fabian de Freitas, who scored twice in the reserves on Wednesday, and Andy Todd are added to the squad that went within five minutes of a second Premiership win against Everton last weekend. Scott Green will need a fitness check on a thigh problem before he is considered for selection.
Forest are expected to recall Dutch star Bryan Roy, who missed the 1-0 UEFA Cup win in Auxerre on Tuesday when Clark packed his midfield and left Jason Lee as the lone attacker.
Wanderers are under no illusions as to the size of their task but there has been a measured improvement in recent games following the hammerings at Old Trafford and Anfield and Roy McFarland was in determined mood when he said: "Forest's record speaks for itself and they proved their quality with that win in Auxerre. We know it's not going to be an easy game but we won't be going there to defend. We're going to have a go at them."
Wanderers (from) Branagan, McAnespie, Phillips, Stubbs, Bergsson, Fairclough, Patterson, Sneekes, Paatelainen, McGinlay, Thompson, Lee, Green, de Freitas, Todd, Davison.
Forest (likely line-up): Crossley, Lyttle, Pearce, Cooper, Chettle, Stone, Bart-Williams, Gemmill, Woan, Lee, Roy. Subs (from) Haaland, Silenzi, Phillips, Taylor, McGregor.
Forest fans looking for omens will be encouraged by the reminder that when Brian Clough's team, which included Frank Clark at full-back, set their 42-match unbeaten League mark in December 1978, the last team they beat was ... Bolton Wanderers, John Robertson scoring the only goal of the game at Burnden.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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