A win is a win, but don't let it paper over the cracks

I'm feeling very relieved that we have finally got a win under our belts. When we slipped into the relegation zone last night after Leeds' win at Bristol Rovers, it made me cry. I know it's ridiculously early to be worrying about going down, but we're playing so badly at the moment that it is easy to get into a losing habit and lose all your confidence.

Today's victory at Port Vale has not changed my mind about Colin Calderwood one bit. He has totally lost it. Although I agreed with his decision to drop Kris Commons following a string of below par performances, why did he put Sammy Clingan, clearly our best midfield player so far this season, on the bench, yet keep James Perch in the side? I like Perch, but he is simply not good enough, at least not in midfield, anyway.
If Clingan was not match fit following international duties with Northern Ireland in midweek, then fair enough, but if the decision to drop him was merely tactical, then Calderwood is even dumber than I thought. If playing well gets you dropped, then what kind of a message does that send out?

Dropping Commons will hopefully have given him the massive wake-up call he needed. When he came on, he livened things up. He must learn that if he doesn't give 100% in every match, he will be axed from the team. Even if Nathan Tyson had a terrible game there in his place, Commons knows that his place is by no means guaranteed now, and like everybody else, he has to earn it. Hopefully in the next match he will give his all, and Forest will reap the awards. I have to applaud Calderwood for making the decision to leave him out.

We may have got three points, but to be quite frank, we didn't deserve them that much. Both sides were dreadful, and it was one of the most boring games I've ever listened to. The radio commentators said it was like a pre-season friendly. You would never have thought that there were three League One points at stake. And you would think that Forest would be desperate to get their first win. But once again, having taken the lead through that man Mr O.G again three minutes into the match, we sat back and defended. Didn't you just know we would do that? Forest are becoming so predictable these days.

Paul Smith bailed us out again with some fantastic saves. But if the defence was doing its job properly, he shouldn't have had anything to do. I'm pretty sure Vale would have got an equaliser had Luke Chambers not scored late on to net his third goal in two matches – making him our top scorer so far this season, believe it or not. Not bad for a central defender playing out of position.

Chambers seems to be the only player who knows how to score at the moment, which is quite something considering he only managed to score once for Northampton in more than 150 games!
But it's not his job to come up with goals. That's the strikers' job. And so far, they are failing miserably. Grant Holt and Junior Agogo have both scored once so far, although Agogo's doesn't count officially as it was in the abandoned match against Leicester, but as things stand, I can't see either of them getting twenty goals this season, if their performance at Vale was anything to go by. And if Calderwood thinks Tyson makes a good alternative to Commons on the left wing, then he's mistaken. He is awful out there. He was never in the game today, but it wasn't his fault. He's been asked to do a job which he can't do. He's a centre-forward, and that's where he loves playing, so let him play there for heaven's sake.

I know I have been really critical, but I am very happy with the three points. I'm just relieved to see us out of that relegation zone. We now have the momentum to start building something. Our next match in the League is at home to Gillingham, and you have to say that we should get three points. The Gills have not exactly been in good form, either, but they did win this weekend, so their confidence will have increased. But if we can win that match, it will set us up nicely to go on a bit of a run, which is what we're going to have to do to catch up with the promotion pacesetters. Who would have thought that Leyton Orient would be leading the way after they narrowly escaped relegation last year? Not me. Maybe they are this year's Port Vale, and they will fade away after a while, but who knows, if they have the right manager in charge, they could be a surprise package and do a Scunthorpe instead.

At the moment, Forest should concentrate on getting themselves into the top six, and then they can try and sneak into the automatic promotion spots. But we will have to play a lot, lot better than we did against Vale.