Bristol Rovers entertain a Nottingham Forest team who have had a disappointing start to their League programme. After dropping down to the third tier of League football for the first time in over 50 years Forest nearly bounced back straight away but missed out dramatically in the play-off semi-finals.

Whilst the season is still very young Colin Calderwood will be anxious that his team picks up their first win soon. Calderwood believes his players have the right attitude to start picking up some decent results. "There has good attitude in training - nobody is laughing and joking but there has been an edge to training and no-one is despondent. There is an eagerness to go out and rectify things, in so far as getting the results which our performances have deserved."

One player who will be especially anxious to get his name onto the scoresheet will be Junior Agogo, making his first appearance against Rovers since his big money move to the Midlands last season.

Up until Saturday Forest had played three games (Including a Coca-Cola Cup game at Chester) and ended up with three 0-0 draws! Then on Saturday Forest got their first goal and produced their best football of the season but came away without a point after a late goal gave Leeds all three.

There were only two shots on target for both sides in the first half but Leeds put one of theirs away and they always looked the more dangerous side going forward

Leeds took the lead with their first real chance of the game in the 17th minute. Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol combined well to create the chance and Kandol fired from 20 yards across Paul Smith and the ball went in off the far post.

Forest got the equalizer when they were awarded a free kick after Clingan was brought down by Thompson. Commons shot from the right, some 35 yards out and the ball was deflected in off Thompson.

After Forest dominated most of the half it was Leeds who got the winner with two minutes remaining. Carole got past Lennon, his shot bounced past Chambers to Beckford who stabbed the ball into the roof of the net.

Looking at the history of Forest, they were founded in 1865 shortly after their famous neighbours Notts County, (the world's oldest surviving professional football club), in 1862. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892, which allowed them entry to the Football League.

Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County 3-1 at Crystal Palace. However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club spent life in the Second Division (and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom). In 1949 the club were relegated to the Third Division, but bounced back two years later as Champions.

A brief period of glory followed at the end of the 1950s, as they regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959, despite losing Roy Dwight {who was the uncle of pop icon Elton John- real name Reg Dwight} through a broken leg and becoming the first team to defeat the Wembley 'hoodoo'.

After reaching the high of runners-up spot and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972. Forest were considered a small club by English league standards until the mid 1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club.

Clough was the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest football club. He had won the league title with Forest's deadly rivals Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on January 6th 1975, after a 0-2 home defeat by local rivals Notts County, on Boxing day, prompted the committee (Forest had no board of directors then) to sack the previous manager Allan Brown.

They won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976-77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons.

Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the last team to date) to win the English First Division Championship 1977-78 season, a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division.

In 1978-79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö FF [1-0] in Munich's Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy in 1979-80, beating Hamburger SV [1-0] in Madrid thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Peter Shilton. They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups.

Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by champions Arsenal and runners-up Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on terracing, the match was abandoned after 6 minutes.

Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic. There was chance for more success in 1991 when Forest reached their only FA Cup Final under Brian Clough and went ahead after scoring an early goal (Stuart Pearce free kick) against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but ended up losing 2-1 in extra time after an own goal by Des Walker.

Forest reached their third League Cup final in four seasons in 1992, but lost to Manchester United, and in this successful period also won the Full Members Cup twice (1989 and 1992).

Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest were relegated from the Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top flight football which had seen one league title, two European Cups and four League Cups. Since Brian Clough's departure, Nottingham Forest have had eight managers and spent just four out of 12 seasons in the Premiership.

Forest signed five players in the summer, most notably former Celtic captain Neil Lennon on a free transfer. Also captured were left-back Matt Lockwood (and former Gas hero of course) from Leyton Orient, Yeovil Town duo midfielder Chris Cohen and attacking winger Arron Davies all signing for undisclosed fees with Preston North End defender Kelvin Wilson signing for £300,000.

There has only been a total of 23 games between Rovers and Forest over the years and Forest have by far the best record, having won 12, 5 draws and only 5 Rovers' victories. The first meeting between the clubs was on 29 November 1949 at the City Ground in a Third Division (South) match when Forest won 2-0, they increased the dose at Eastville in April with a 3-0 victory.

It wasn't until 13 March 1954 that Rovers recorded their first win with a 1-0 score in a Second Division match at Eastville. On 5 occasions in matches one of the teams has scored 4 goals and in an FA Cup, second Replay at Villa Park on 18 January 1977 Forest thrashed Rovers 6-0.

Rovers' last victory over the Trentside team was back on 4 October 1975 when they ran out 4-2 winners in a Second Division encounter at Eastville. The last times the teams met was in a League Cup tie at the City Ground on 30 October 1991, when Forest won 2-0.

With history on their side Colin Calderwood must be confident that his team can return to the Midlands with all three points. Paul Trollope will be anxious that his Rovers' team continues their run of good form but bounces back from their first competitive defeat since 1 April, with a victory over Forest.