Scott Hogan's into the action now, peeling away from the back four and running in behind, but he's unable to hook a cross into the Nottingham Forest penalty area.

The striker scored 14 goals in the first half of this season for Brentford - and I imagine if he can repeat that feat for Aston Villa between now and May his new employers would be rather satisfied with their business.

Zach Clough is immediately into the action on his Forest debut, first misplacing the simplest of passes straight out for a throw-in and then picking the ball up 30 yards out and shooting high and wide moments later.

It's been a busy start at the City Ground, but the vast majority of the play is centering around the halfway line.

I mentioned prior to kick-off that these two teams haven't met in the league since 1998 - what I didn't mention was that, at the time, Aston Villa were top of the Premier League table.

How times have changed, right?

The hosts, in their familiar red and white strip, get our late game under way.

Right then, let's get this party started, shall we?

The two teams emerge onto the City Ground pitch, both sets of players wearing those anthem-style tops we're all so used to seeing nowawadays.

Kick-off is just a few moments away.

Image source, Rex Features

One man who won't be playing a part tonight owing to EFL loan rules is Ross McCormack, who joined Nottingham Forest from Aston Villa until the end of the season on transfer deadline day.

And, of course, that gives us the perfect excuse to once again bring up the now infamous 'gate-gate' incident.

If you've been buried under a rock for the past fortnight, Villa disciplined the Scottish striker more than once for failing to attend training, with one excuse that a faulty gate, external prevented him leaving his house.  

But the 30-year-old said this week: "The fence was taller than me and I'm not 4ft 6in. It was icy and raining, what if I'd rolled my ankle?

"It sounds far fetched but the gate was stuck... I had to wait for the company,"

Hmmm... I'll leave you all to make your own minds up. 

Zach Clough, fresh from joining from Bolton on deadline day, goes straight into the Nottingham Forest team up front alongside Britt Assombalonga.

Scott Hogan comes in for his Aston Villa debut, while Henri Lansbury also starts against the side he left to join Villa earlier in January.

Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Lichaj, Macienne, Fox, Pinillos, Vaughan, Cash, Ward, Osborn, Clough, Assombalonga.

Aston Villa: Johnstone, Bree, Elphick, Chester, Baker, Bjarnanson, Hourihane, Lansbury, Grealish, Kodjia, Hogan.

Image source, Rex Features

Alas, those top-level clashes seem a long way off for these two sides as we speak, with both lingering in the wrong half of the Championship table.

Despite all the heavyweight spending under manager Steve Bruce, Aston Villa are five games without a win, were beaten 3-0 at Brentford on Tuesday and are down in 14th in the table.

Forest, meanwhile, are five spots lower despite having won two of their last three games, and have been made to endure all sorts of takeover-related woes off the field.

But which set of fans will have their spirits lifted this evening? Let's have a look at the two teams...

Image source, Getty Images

Given the number of big guns knocking about in the second tier these days, we do seem to end up with a fair few of these fixtures which just have that proper old-school top-flight feel to them.

These two teams haven't actually met outside the top division at the City Ground since the mid-70s, since when both have gone on to lift the European Cup.

Their last league meeting here was a Premiership game in 1998 and ended 2-2 - but can you name the goalscorers?

Answers on a postcode (or via #bbcefl, as that'll probably be much more convenient for all parties) please.

Image source, Rex Features

Right then, I make that 31 games down, one to go.

And so, if your Saturday footballing fix still hasn't quite been satisfied, I'm pleased to point out that we do have 90 more minutes of EFL fun to get our teeth stuck into from 17:30 GMT.

It's time to turn our attention towards the City Ground, where Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa in the Championship.

Image source, Rex Features

Morecambe put another difficult week of reports about their financial troubles behind them to hold leaders Doncaster to a 1-1 draw and extend their unbeaten run to four games.

That result allows second-placed Plymouth to close the gap to Rovers to just five points, with Antoni Sarcevic scoring the only goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win at Cambridge United.

Third-placed Carlisle picked up their first win since 31 December by beating Leyton Orient 2-1, but they remain just four points above Exeter, who thrashed Crewe 4-0.

• Accrington Stanley 2-0 Notts County
• Barnet 0-2 Mansfield
• Blackpool 1-1 Colchester
• Cambridge 0-1 Plymouth
• Cheltenham 1-1 Newport
• Crawley 1-2 Stevenage
• Doncaster 1-1 Morecambe
• Exeter 4-0 Crewe
• Grimsby 1-1 Luton
• Hartlepool 1-1 Yeovil
• Leyton Orient 1-2 Carlisle
• Wycombe 1-0 Portsmouth

Image source, Rex Features

Sheffield United retake top spot in League One, with Caolan Lavery scoring the final goal late on in their 4-0 win over Wimbledon.

Shrewsbury also claim a vital three points with a 2-1 victory at home to Bury, a result which leaves the hosts five points clear of the relegation zone.

In the other big relegation battle, Oldham snatch a late winner at Chesterfield, despite having defender Anthony Gerrard sent off as the teams headed towards the tunnel at half-time.

• Bradford 2-2 Gillingham
• Charlton 1-1 Fleetwood
• Chesterfield 0-1 Oldham
• Coventry 0-2 Millwall
• MK Dons 1-1 Bolton
• Port Vale 0-3 Peterborough
• Rochdale 0-0 Bristol Rovers
• Sheffield United 4-0 Wimbledon
• Shrewsbury 0-0 Bury
• Southend 3-1 Scunthorpe
• Walsall 2-1 Northampton

Image source, Rex Features

• Matt Ritchie's first-half strike was enough to hand Newcastle United victory over Derby County and send the Magpies back to the top of the Championship table.
• Reading needed a late Jordan Obita goal to rescue a point away at Ipswich Town.
• Bristol City ended their 10-game winless run with victory at home to Rotherham United, releasing some of the pressure on head coach Lee Johnson.
• Cauley Woodrow scored in injury time to give Burton Albion an eye-catching win over Wolves.
• Cameron Jerome's goal gave Norwich victory over Cardiff, Sam Gallagher's late strike helped Blackburn beat QPR and Birmingham won 1-0 against 10-man Fulham.

Full-time at Newcastle and the Magpies have gone back to the top of the Championship.

Darren Bent's header is cleared off the line!

The Rams forced two late corners and even sent goalkeeper Scott Carson up for them.

The ball fell to former England man Bent but his header was cleared off the line by DeAndre Yedlin.

The hosts are fuming after Ayoze Perez goes down under a challenge by Rams keeper Scott Carson outside the area.

The referee gives a corner which comes to nothing.

Into five added minutes.

Derby have had chances in the last few minutes. Can they create one more?

Image source, Rex Features

Abdoul Camara plays Ikechi Anya in but the Scot can't quite divert the ball past Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

All Derby now and the hosts are hanging on.

Image source, Rex Features

There's little doubt now that Sheffield United will be top of League One at the end of the day, as rivals Scunthorpe are heading for defeat at Southend.

Simon Cox makes it 2-1, before Ryan Leonard slots in to make it 3-1 and put the result beyond doubt. 

To make matters worse for the Iron, Neal Bishop gets into an altercation with Jason Demetriou and is shown a straight red card. Full-time can't come soon enough for the visitors now.