Manchester United were beginning to hit top form in February 1999 during their historic treble-winning season. This was never more evident than their trip to The City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest.
Ron Atkinson had succeeded Dave Bassett in early January but any hope of a rare clean sheet disappeared inside two minutes. Paul Scholes’ inch-perfect cross was guided into the net by Dwight Yorke. Recently crowned the Premier League Player of the Month for January, Yorke had just scored his 20th goal in all competitions for United since his transfer from Aston Villa in August 1998.
Forest’s only home win of the campaign had come on the day of Yorke’s Manchester United debut against Coventry City. They did offer a brief response though. Alan Rogers linked up brilliantly with Jean-Claude Darcheville and the attacking left-back stunned the visitors with an emphatic equaliser.
The league leaders though wasted no time in getting their lead back. Jaap Stam’s hopeful long ball somehow beat the entire Forest backline. Andy Cole got to the ball first, ahead of Dave Beasant and finished from a tight angle. Atkinson had experienced a five-year period as Manchester United manager in the 1980s and he would have been extremely disappointed with his team’s second half display as Alex Ferguson’s team took Forest apart in embarrassing fashion.
Any hope of the hosts getting anything from the contest was ended five minutes into the second half. Carlton Palmer and Jon Olav Hjelde managed to get in each other’s way. Yorke’s shot was spilled by Beasant and Cole was quickest to the rebound to score his second of the afternoon. Yorke joined his lethal strike partner on two goals for the day on 67 minutes with a bit of luck. Jesper Blomqvist’s cross was guided onto his own post by Hjelde and therefore, Yorke had the simplest of tap-ins.
With 18 minutes remaining, Yorke was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian was about to run amok. His first goal came within eight minutes of his introduction. He tapped in from close-range after being picked out by Gary Neville. In the 88th minute, Solskjaer became the third Red Devils striker to score a brace in the match. Found by David Beckham, Solskjaer finished at the second attempt, leaving Beasant stranded after the goalkeeper had kept out his initial effort. However, he wasn’t finished just yet.
Another emphatic finish on the half-volley after another clever pass from Scholes completed his hat-trick. And there was more to come. When Scholes miscued an attempt on-goal in injury-time from a Nicky Butt pullback, Solskjaer was unmarked and ready to pounce. He’d scored four goals in just over 10 minutes as a substitute!
This 8-1 scoreline became the biggest-ever away victory in Premier League history for over two decades. The result also showed the chasm between the two teams on a historic afternoon for Manchester United in the East Midlands.
