Caretaker boss Brazil steers visitors to valuable draw

GARY BRAZIL gave his chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi plenty of food for thought as he steered Nottingham Forest to a well deserved draw at Portman Road.

Academy manager Brazil was overseeing his second game as temporary Forest boss following the 1-0 midweek loss to Charlton.

He was installed as caretaker earlier in the week following the sacking of Billy Davies after a shocking run of nine games without a win.

Big names such as Stuart Pearce, Glenn Hoddle, Roy Keane and Martin O'Neill have all been linked with the vacant post since then.

But Brazil could yet prove to be a surprise candidate for the job after supervising this impressive all-round performance against in-form play-off rivals Ipswich.

Brazil had raised a few eyebrows with his starting line up but Forest needed just four minutes to stamp their authority on the afternoon with a slick set-piece goal.

Former Ipswich loan player Danny Collins ventured upfield for a corner and when left back Danny Fox picked him out perfectly the big former Stoke centre-back emphatically headed home his first Forest goal.

Ipswich goalkeeper Dean Gerken also superbly denied Forest strikers Jamie Mackie and Jamie Paterson as the visitors dominated the early proceedings.

But the save of the day came from Forest's Karl Darlow, who produced a blinding parry to keep out Ipswich striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's point blank 48th minute header.

Ipswich pressed relentlessly though and Forest finally cracked after 78 minutes, with striker Daryl Murphy nodding in his 11th of the season at the far post from substitute Frank Nouble's cross.

Peter Layton (Daily Star)