FA PREMIER RESERVE LEAGUE SOUTHBy Derek DavisChief Football WriterNottingham Forest Res 3 Ipswich Town Res 2RESERVE-TEAM boss Steve McCall last night tipped four of Town's rising stars to join Scott Mitchell in pushing on to make a mark next season.

FA PREMIER RESERVE LEAGUE SOUTH

By Derek Davis

Chief Football Writer

Nottingham Forest Res 3 Ipswich Town Res 2

RESERVE-TEAM boss Steve McCall last night tipped four of Town's rising stars to join Scott Mitchell in pushing on to make a mark next season.

Scott Barron, Antonio Murray, Gerard Nash and Aidan Collins are the big hopes, while McCall warns another could also surprise people.

While Mitchell has already made two first-team appearances as a substitute this season, injury prevented Murray, Nash and Collins from progressing as quickly as hoped.

McCall said: "Having those three back next season will be a big plus and we expect them to push on and be regulars in the reserves and depending on how things go, challenge for first team places.

"Another I can see doing well is Scott Barron, who has had a very good season. He needs to build up during the summer but he is an exciting prospect. After that there could be a surprise element, someone who emerges from the pack and does better, quicker, than we first thought."

The second string wrapped their season up with a 3-2 defeat at the City Ground after Liam Craig had given them a two-goal half-time lead.

Skipper Mitchell was part of a poor defensive unit that did not cover themselves in glory after being caught out twice in three minutes by identical short corners which led to Forest coming back and equalising.

Eugen Bopp finished the first, James Perch the second and eight minutes from time Brian Cash banged in the winner.

The win means Forest leapfrog Ipswich, who finished second from bottom, just ahead of Fulham.

McCall said: "After a good first half we were very disappointed to lose it in the second half. The goals came from schoolboy defending, and that is being harsh on schoolboys. To be caught once at a corner was bad enough, to be caught again a couple of minutes later was shoddy."

Craig had given Town the lead on the half-hour after a super run by Daniel Flack, who slipped the ball in for the striker to round the keeper and score.

Craig bagged his brace five minutes later after being taken down in the area and getting up to stroke the penalty home.

The game was played yesterday after being rearranged following a traffic hold-up on the A1 last month, which caused the original postponement. A seven-mile delay, this time on the A14, almost caused the team to be late again but smart thinking from the driver got them out of the jam.

Nottingham Forest: Leite, Groves, Biggins, Beaumont, Perch, Doig, Cash, Bopp, Bodkin (Weir-Daley, 45) Westcarr and Haskins (Gardner, 45). Subs: Formann, Freyne and Webb.

Ipswich Town: Supple, Synott, Boardley, Mitchell (Manning, 74) Collins, Diallo, Flack (Garvan, 74) Santos, Craig, Atay and Bart-Williams (Beveridge, 63). Subs: Price and Lordan.

Referee: Michael Murphy (West Yorkshire).