42-game unbeaten run ends at Anfield
On this day in Nottingham Forest history in 1978 Forest’s 42-match unbeaten league run ends with a 2–0 defeat at Liverpool.
Forest’s extraordinary unbeaten league run finally ended at Anfield, where Liverpool won 2–0 in the First Division.
Brian Clough’s side had gone 42 league matches without defeat, a run that carried across the club’s title-winning rise and confirmed the durability of one of the strongest teams in Forest history. By the time they reached Liverpool, the record had become a major part of the season’s story.
Liverpool broke through when Terry McDermott scored from the penalty spot after Archie Gemmill brought down Kenny Dalglish. McDermott then struck again just after half-time, knocking in the rebound after Peter Shilton had saved from Alan Kennedy.
For Forest, the defeat did not erase the achievement. Peter Shilton, John McGovern, Kenny Burns and the rest of Clough’s side had already set a benchmark that stood above ordinary league form.
The disappointment was real because unbeaten runs acquire their own pressure. But the 42-match sequence remained the remembered detail, and Forest still ended that season by winning the European Cup.
Sources
Nottingham Forest official site; LFCHistory
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Forest’s extraordinary unbeaten league run finally ended at Anfield, where Liverpool won 2–0 in the First Division. Brian Clough’s side had gone 42 league…