For Clough's sake, don't appoint Davies

Well, who would have thought after that awful, awful Boxing Day defeat at the hands of Doncaster that 48 hours later we'd be out of the relegation zone?

Why is it that any time a club sacks their manager, they win their next game? It certainly does seem like it anyway. Although, I must admit I had my doubts we'd be capable of it when I saw John Pemberton's line-up. I was very surprised that Brendan Moloney, who had been one of the few players to emerge with any credit from the mauling against Donny, was dropped for Luke Chambers. Perhaps Pemberton was just making sure that he wouldn't be considered for the full-time vacancy. I couldn't understand why he also left both Joe Garner and Rob Earnshaw on the bench, with Nathan Tyson operating on his own up front. Surely we weren't playing for a draw?

However, I needn't have worried as within half an hour we were deservedly two goals up thanks to strikes from the re-called Matt Thornhill and Lewis McGugan. Norwich were poor, it's got to be said, and we just took advantage just like Donny did to us. And just like at the City Ground, boos rang out around Carrow Road at half time as well as calls for Glenn Roeder's head.

Even though Norwich were firing blanks up front, I never once felt comfortable as I knew that our defence was very capable of going to sleep at any moment. So once the back-in-favour Ian Breckin had accidentally put through his own net with little over 20 minutes remaining, I feared the worst.

Thank God then that Earnshaw put the game out of reach as the clock ticked down into injury time. But even at that late stage, the game was still not safe as the referee declared five minutes of stoppage time. And wouldn't you know it, Norwich (or rather Forest themselves) ensured that there would be a nervous finale when Garner calamitously scored an own goal with an attempted headed clearance from a long way out. That was the third own goal scored against Norwich this season. Fortunately it turned out to be nothing more than a consolation and Forest held on for their second successive away win, which takes them out of the relegation zone on goal difference, thanks to Southampton's failure to beat Reading.

We now have a nice two-week gap before our next Championship match, which is at Charlton. Before then we have an FA Cup third round date at Manchester City. I can't see anything but a resounding defeat for us there with our defence, but we may well have a new manager by then, and we may even have one or two new players as the January transfer window opens on Thursday. It is really bad timing that Lee Camp's loan has ended at the same time that Calderwood has left. It doesn't sound as though Camp is hopeful of coming back. And if Billy Davies is the new manager, I think we have no chance of signing him as Davies didn't like him at Pride Park. If we have lost Camp, we will have to sign somebody else because Paul Smith is simply not good enough. Camp has saved us so many points this season. Granted he was in goal when we conceded four against Doncaster, but that was down to our awful defence, not him.

I really hope Davies does not get the job. The more I read about him, the more I think it would be a disastrous appointment. The fans don't want him, so he's already got them against him before he's even started. It seemed to be set in stone that he was taking over a few weeks ago, but for some reason or another that never materialised. Apparently he failed to agree personal terms. Some might say what a lucky escape.

The search for a new manager has been complicated by the news that Paul Jewell has resigned as manager of Derby. That means that two very similar clubs both in the East Midlands are searching for a new manager to lift them out of the Championship doldrums. The worrying thing is that Nigel Clough has been installed as 3-1 favourite. He is second favourite for the job at the City Ground behind Davies. If Forest are not prepared to listen to what he has got to say he will go to Derby, and that would be awful for Forest fans. Clough junior is a Forest hero, but the Derby manager has always been a hate figure or a source of ridicule. We simply must not let it happen. Clough's destiny has always been to end up as manager of Forest. For him to go to Derby will be like re-writing one of the stories in the Bible.

Calderwood culled in Boxing Day bloodbath

When I said that things could go spectacularly wrong against Doncaster, I meant it would be a goalless draw or something. I certainly did not expect us to be more stuffed than the turkey on Christmas Day by a team that had failed to score more than once in any match this season.

But if that was what it took to get rid of Colin Calderwood, then perhaps it was needed. I have never felt so shocked in my life at what was unfolding in front of my eyes. Not in my worst nightmares, would I have envisaged such a heavy beating at the hands of Doncaster who were bottom of the table at the start of play. In the end there were 'only' two goals in it, but if Donny had grabbed two more – and they looked more than capable of doing so – they could have leapfrogged us in the table on goal difference.

I've been through some very dark times supporting Forest, and that had to be one of the lowest moments I've experienced in 20 years of following them. There have been plenty of awful displays from Forest over the past five years. That pathetic 3-0 home drubbing against Plymouth in our relegation season springs to mind, not to mention the capitulation against Yeovil. But this defeat ranks right alongside them. I've no idea what went wrong, but it was a complete train wreck from start to finish.

The defence was a shambles. Joel Lynch was abysmal. Every time he got the ball, he seemed to give it away. Why on earth we signed him I don't know. He couldn't even get into Brighton's team in League One. To think that if Calderwood was still here he would probably have signed him permanently.

Lynch wasn't the only bad player, though. Most of them were. The only ones who could take any credit were Brendan Moloney for at least trying to set up attacks, and second half sub Nathan Tyson, whose solo run resulted in an own goal, which saw the start of a mini-comeback in which we grabbed two goals.

As if things couldn't get much worse, we were forced to play most of the second half with ten men after Julian Bennett, who had come on at half time, went off injured with a suspected cruciate ligament injury, which could well sideline him for the rest of the season. I actually don't blame Calderwood for using all his subs, though, but what I do blame him for is dropping two players from the winning side that disposed of Southampton. He broke one of football's unwritten golden rules: Never change a winning team.

I just sat there with my arms folded when we pulled two back. People in front of me were cheering, but they were probably being ironic as Doncaster's fans were also applauding. I felt really embarrassed as my brother's brother-in-law had come all the way over from Australia to watch the game. He doesn't even like football, but my brothers wanted to show him an English football game. He'll now return to Oz with the impression that Doncaster are head and shoulders ahead of Forest. What a sad, sad state of affairs.

Our car journey home was solemn, and I hardly uttered a word for the whole two-hour journey, but just as we were approaching Bedford where I live, one of the football commentators on Radio 5 Live said there was breaking news...Nottingham Forest have SACKED Colin Calderwood. I immediately turned off my MP3 player as this piece of news was the only music I needed to hear. I was absolutely delighted and the depression of the Doncaster defeat was swept away in an instant. The day hadn't actually been too bad after all. All the other results went our way, which meant we were still only a point away from safety, and we had finally got rid of Calderwood. If somebody told me that the only way to get rid of him would be a humiliating home defeat, I might have taken it. The long-term future of this football club is the most important thing, and if one or two defeats have to be endured to reach our long-term goal then bring them on.

So now that the Calderwood era is over, the big question now is who will take over the reins? Will we go for a short-term appointment until the end of the season, or will we bring in somebody permanently immediately? Billy Davies is reputed to be the hot favourite, and I am not totally against that idea, although a little concerned that he can be quite arrogant and unlikeable. But he can't be all bad if he did so well at Preston and Derby in the Championship. He obviously knows one or two things about tactics. I do worry that we would be swapping one dour Scotsman for another, but he has fought relegation battles at this level before, rescuing Derby and then winning them promotion the following season. I think he may be capable of keeping us up, but as a long-term option I am not so sure. I don't think Robbie Earnshaw will be too thrilled, as it was Davies who was in charge at Derby when he was frozen out. Earnshaw must be wondering what he did in a previous life as he was so happy when he joined Forest. I really hope that he and Davies can draw a line under what happened at Pride Park and start again.

My choice like many other fans would be for Psycho and Nigel Clough, but I don't think that will ever happen. Psycho is being groomed for the England manager's job, and Nigel will probably want to work his way up through the divisions. He's on course to get promoted with Burton Albion to League Two, and it's quite feasible that Forest could even be playing Burton in a league match in a few years, the way things are going.

John Pemberton will be in charge for the trip to Norwich on Sunday. As reserve team manager he has done really well. Forest won the title last season, so he must be doing something right. The problem with Calderwood was that he was tactically very naïve. Pemberton will hopefully be in favour of putting round pegs in round holes. That would certainly be a step in the right direction. As Earnshaw said in his post-match interview the players didn't really know what they were doing. And if that is not proof that Calderwood had lost the dressing room, I don't know what is.

I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas

All I want for Christmas is three points against Doncaster! And then if Southampton fail to win at Plymouth we will be out of the relegation zone on Boxing Day. And what a brilliant present that would be!

The 2-0 victory at Southampton was so, so important. If we had lost, we would be seven points adrift instead of just one, and we'd be looking down and out, but it's feasible that we could be out of the bottom three if we even just draw against Donny and Southampton lose.

I had set Forest a target to be out of the bottom three by the turn of the New Year, and it looks very likely it will happen. If we can beat Donny and then get at least a point at Norwich two days later, it will be an excellent Christmas. I'm not taking anything for granted, though, as you know what Forest are like. We thought they'd beat Norwich and they lost, and we thought they'd win against Blackpool, but could only manage a goalless draw. Doncaster while struggling to score goals with just eleven bagged this season, are not too bad defensively and they will make life very difficult for us. We cannot be complacent. With the weight of expectation hanging on the players' shoulders and with a big Boxing Day crowd present, it could all backfire spectacularly, so I'm not going to build my hopes up too much. I've been a Forest fan for a long time and endured so much disappointment so I have decided only to be cautiously optimistic from now on.

Joe Garner's goal was sublime. He is becoming a Forest hero. I am quite surprised at how quickly he has settled into the team after recovering from his long injury lay-off, but he is doing exactly what we bought him for. I think there will be one or two clubs sniffing around him soon. We did well to get him cut-price. Clubs weren't interested in him because he was injured, but we took a gamble, and for once it seems to have paid off. I thought that Robbie Earnshaw would be the main source of goals this season, but Garner is now the leading scorer in the League. He is undroppable at the moment, and that means Colin Calderwood has a big dilemma on his hands: Who should partner Garner? Earnshaw is a good player to have in the team, but like Garner he is small, and we need a big target man up front, i.e Nathan Tyson. Tyson has been playing extremely well lately and has been deployed on the left wing a lot, but he works best up front. He was due to play yesterday but pulled out just before kick off after complaining of feeling ill. I must admit I didn't rate our chances of winning without him, but fortunately Southampton were awful and we still had enough about us to earn a priceless victory.

Being third-from-bottom in the Championship is not good, but considering where we were a couple of months ago, I am delighted that the gap has been reduced to just a solitary point. I honestly thought that by this stage of the season we'd be dead and buried, but we have been picking up points and stopped losing every week, so we've managed to keep afloat while others go on losing streaks. We had looked to be in free-fall, but now we are getting stronger and stronger while teams like Charlton seem to be sinking without trace. Merry Christmas!

Forest just don't look up for the fight

Will somebody please tell me what is so special about Colin Calderwood? What did he do to deserve managing a big club like Forest? And why does he appear to have one of the safest jobs in football?

We have now played exactly half of the season – that's 23 games and have won a pathetic three of them. Yet for all the idle speculation floating around in the past few weeks, there is still absolutely no concrete proof that Calderwood's job is even under threat.

The fact that he is still here speaks volumes of how incompetently this Club is being run. There doesn't seem to be any direction off the field at boardroom level, never mind on the pitch. At the weekend the yearly accounts were published and it made grim reading. Last year we made a loss of £7 million, and were it not for the big pockets of Nigel Doughty, we'd apparently be in huge financial trouble. And yet it was only recently that Mark Arthur, no doubt lying through his teeth, as he usually does, said that the Club was in a good position and had little debt. How are we managing to lose so much every year? Just think what relegation to League One will do? We were the biggest spenders in the Championship this summer, spending over £4 million on new players including £2.65 million on Robbie Earnshaw, and yet all we have to show for it is 18 points. Earnshaw has had a stop-start season, scoring only three times in the League so far, and spending quite a bit of it on the sidelines injured. If and (probably when) we do go down, it will be hard to flog him for more than a million to anyone, so that will be another huge amount of money gone down the drain. I can't see a player like him being happy to play in League One. Although when he first joined it was plain to see how delighted he was to be joining Forest to get his career back on track after being frozen out at Derby, recently I have wondered if he is having second thoughts as his body language has been quite negative. Rumour has it that he was dropped to the substitutes' bench for the game against Blackpool on Saturday because he had refused to obey Calderwood's instruction to play on the wing as Nathan Tyson and Joe Garner were to play up front instead. Who can really blame him? But if it's true that Calderwood is falling out with the players, then it flys in the face of Calderwood's repeated claims that there is a strong team spirit and a united dressing room.

I couldn't believe that the commentators on Radio Nottingham were saying that the performance was really good. I am wondering what game I was watching, because that was not good at all. We created a few chances, but very few if any of them had resulted from good play. The game was really scrappy and Blackpool defended really doggedly and looked quite comfortable. A drab goalless draw was about the right result and was really fitting for such a downcast and wet day. Forest were just restricted to half chances for the most part. The game had a very League One-esque feel to it, except that currently there is no danger of Blackpool going down as they are ten points clear of the relegation zone. As things stand, I think the three clubs currently occupying the bottom three places will be the ones who will drop. Charlton look to be in disarray, even after sacking Alan Pardew, and Doncaster while having a bit of spirit will probably pay for the fact that they just can't score enough goals, and are not a big enough club to attract Championship-quality players to remedy that. And unless we sack Calderwood soon, I am afraid to say that we will be joining them in League One next season. Just how many chances does he need? We need about ten wins in the second half of the season – that's three times as many as we have now, so for that to happen there will have to be a huge improvement in the second half of the season, and unless Calderwood is a miracle worker (he is not), only a new manager will be capable of achieving it, so just what on earth is Doughty playing at not doing anything about it?

One step forward...two steps back

I really thought we had a good chance of beating Sheffield United on Tuesday night and was looking forward to renewing our rivalry with them after three years outside of the Championship, but Forest were really poor, and they couldn't keep possession and ended up losing to a scrappy goal.

The Blades were dominant in the opening twenty minutes or so and Forest just couldn't get hold of the ball at all, and when they did they quickly lost it. It was very frustrating to watch, and United quite frankly looked a class apart from us at times in terms of the amount of possession they had. They really deserved to take the lead half an hour into the game when Brian Howard bundled the ball over the line following a poor Kelvin Wilson clearance.

Forest struggled to break the stubborn United defence down, and they resorted to playing a desperate long-ball game, which was quite laughable if it wasn't so sad with 5ft 8 Robert Earnshaw and 5ft 10 Joe Garner playing up front together. Not surprisingly Earnshaw hardly got a look-in, and was substituted, and Garner wasn't much better. But it's hardly their fault if they don't get any service. We need at least one 6ft+ striker to play alongside either Earnshaw or Garner. The trouble is both of them are very good players if used right and don't deserve to be dropped.

The only consolation was that both Doncaster and Charlton lost, and we stayed off the bottom, albeit on goal difference, but a win for Watford against Norwich on Wednesday night left us five points adrift of safety again. We have to beat Blackpool on Saturday, but it will not be easy. It is a very sad state of affairs that Blackpool will probably feel disappointed if they don't walk away from us with three points, but the grim reality is that they are a better side and will probably be in a higher division than us this time next year.

Dodgy defending is handicapping us

If we do end up getting relegated this season, I will put it down to our poor defence. Once again sloppy marking has cost us a much-needed three points against our fellow strugglers.

I was laughing when I saw Derby were a goal down to Crystal Palace after just three minutes, but I soon shut up when Forest conceded one after just two minutes after the defence was caught in no-man's land. I must admit I thought we were going to be in for a long afternoon, but to Forest's credit they didn't let that early setback get them down and they dominated the first half playing some wonderful football at times. They richly deserved to equalise when Robert Earnshaw headed home from a well-timed Chris Cohen cross. It was Earnshaw's first goal for Forest in nearly three months, during which he had endured a frustrating spell on the sidelines nursing a niggling calf injury.

But Forest were made to pay for more lax defensive work when Coventry restored their lead almost immediately through Clinton Morrison. And despite completely dominating the game and deserving to be in front, Forest found themselves trailing at half time. The Coventry fans would have booed their players off if they hadn't been winning.

Oddly for Forest, they managed to play well for the full 90 minutes, but Coventry did ask more questions of them in the second half, putting them under a lot of pressure. It was vital that the next goal would come from Forest, and thankfully that turned out to be the case when right on the hour Joe Garner pounced on the end of a Lewis McGugan free kick to net his third goal of the season, and his second in as many games.

Forest were playing so well that they looked more than capable of snatching a winner, and Garner saw his late chance to win the game spurned by a good save from the Coventry goalkeeper. But that save was nothing compared to the one that Lee Camp made in the 90th minute. Michael Mifsud had looked certain to score, but somehow Camp managed to just about palm the ball away to prevent it going over the line. Yet again Forest were indebted to the heroics of the on-loan Camp. The prospect of him going back to QPR in a month's time fills me with dread. This man has turned our season around. We must do everything we can to sign him permanently, or at the very least extend his loan until the end of the season. Let's just pray that the QPR No 1 doesn't get injured and he is recalled, because I think Camp is the single most important player we have at the moment. I used to think Paul Smith was good, but now I realise that he is not, and there was a reason why he was so low down the pecking order at Southampton.

I know I have said we draw too many games, but this was a good point for us. If we can win at home and draw away, we will be alright. Three of our next four games will be at the City Ground. We play Sheffield United on Tuesday night and then Blackpool next Saturday. I want to see at least four points from those. Both games will be difficult, particularly the Sheffield one because of the rivalry between the two Clubs. Sheffield will be reeling from their home defeat against Burnley at the weekend, while Blackpool despite their unfashionable status are holding their own in the Championship and should not be underestimated.

At least the gap from safety is now only three points. It could have been a whole lot worse. I am setting Forest a target to get out of the relegation zone by the start of the New Year. If we keep on improving then we will soon find ourselves winning more regularly. We have after all lost just once in eight matches now, and that is hardly relegation form. We must not allow our heads to drop and keep on fighting and eventually we will get the rewards.

Win only delays the inevitable

How many lives does Colin Calderwood have? He has to be one of the luckiest people in football. I honestly thought he had gone on Wednesday as rumours of his sacking/resignation reached fever pitch, and yet that's all it turned out to be – a rumour. It just goes to show how damaging the internet can be. I suppose we only have ourselves to blame for believing it.

A very lucky win over Barnsley has probably saved his job for another couple of weeks now. No doubt a defeat at Coventry will be deemed acceptable by the Forest hierarchy, so then he will be given the two subsequent home games against Sheffield United and Blackpool. Yes, more games to mess up, and fewer games for whoever happens to replace him to pull off a rescue mission.

Obviously it was very important that we got three points yesterday and I am glad we did, because had we lost, we would be seven points adrift, but the performance was all the same very poor and we were grateful to the woodwork and Lee Camp as Barnsley ripped our defence apart all too easily. They dominated the first half, so Forest could consider themselves fortunate to be going in at half time a goal to the good courtesy of a Joe Garner header.

Forest were being overran in midfield too much, and our defence was being heavily exposed. Calderwood was clearly going for the jugular, playing three strikers, even though Robbie Earnshaw was clearly still not match fit. He did make a very brave decision to bring in Brendan Maloney at right back. Maloney had been on loan at non-League Rushdon and Diamonds, but he was recalled on Thursday. Calderwood's decision to drop Luke Chambers for him paid off as Maloney made a number of key tackles, and looked like an accomplished full back. I am not sure whether he is the answer or not, but he looked better there than Chambers, so that is something. Unfortunately, right back is not the only part of our defence that has needed strengthening. Kelvin Wilson has been playing very badly this season, and Joel Lynch has failed to convince me that he is an adequate left back so far. Hopefully we will try and sign a central defender and a new full back in the January transfer window. Let's just hope we can get through the next month and not lose too many games, because it will be hard to attract good players if they think we are going down.

It's very annoying to think that if we had beaten Norwich last Saturday, we would now be out of the relegation zone. But I guess with so many games against teams scrapping for survival, there was bound to be one or two setbacks along the way. We have lost only one of our last seven games, but we have drawn too many of them. Draws are no good when you are bottom of the table. Our home form is very iffy, so it's not as if we can rely on that to get us out of trouble. I think we're actually playing better away from home at the moment, which is quite ironic really as before the Crystal Palace game, we had lost them all. I think the players feel quite intimidated playing in front of big crowds, most of them baying for their blood if they don't perform. That's something that must be addressed because we will not win many away matches this season. If we are to avoid going back down again, it's our home form that will save us.

A change is going to come

As I write this, it would seem that Forest are already in the process of interviewing potential new managers, if rumours in the press this morning are anything to go by. Judging by Colin Calderwood's strange behaviour after the final whistle at Doncaster where he shook every Forest player's hand and went over to the supporters, despite them chanting for his resignation suggests that he knows his time is up as Forest continue to lie six points adrift at the bottom of the Championship.

The Daily Mail ran an exclusive saying that Sam Allerdyce is poised to take over, while the Guardian say that Billy Davies, Iain Dowie (God I hope not) and Ady Boothroyd, the recently axed Watford manager, could all be in the frame. My first choice would have to be Big Sam. I think he would be just what this Club needs in a relegation battle, and he would lift us out of the doldrums, if only temporarily. He may be quite controversial and outspoken at times, but the most successful managers often are. Calderwood is about as inspiring as a soggy iceberg lettuce that's past its sell-by date. The idea that he is capable of turning our fortunes around and pulling off a rescue act is just laughable. His interviews are increasingly becoming self-parodic. In the Nottingham Evening Post today, he says he's the 'perfect man for the job'. What job would that be then? Turning Forest into the biggest laughing stock in football by making us the worst ever Championship team with the lowest points total?

I think Calderwood was told that if he didn't win at Doncaster then he would be sacked, and after another lifeless display from Forest, which would have resulted in a defeat if Doncaster weren't just as bad, it would seem that finally (although God knows how it took him so long), Nigel Doughty has run out of patience. I've also just read that Calderwood was nowhere to be seen at this morning's training session. Interesting!!

You've had your chance, Forest, and you've blown it

Oh no, Forest. I thought we'd got over this. I really thought we'd turned the proverbial corner, but the home defeat against ten man Norwich is a real hammer blow, and I am not convinced we will recover from it now.

It really was a bad day for us results wise. Southampton pulled off an unlikely win at Reading, and third-from-bottom Watford, with a new management team in place, earned a convincing win at home to QPR. Not only that, but Doncaster drew at Burnley, which meant we swapped places with them at the bottom of the table. So taking all this into account, the game against Norwich, who were five points head of us at the start of play, was even more crucial than it was before. I really believed that we were going to win the game and at worst feared we may only draw it, so the fact that we lost to a side that had struggled really badly away from home despite them being reduced to ten men after only twenty minutes, is really hard to take. Victory would have put us on level pegging with Charlton and dragged Norwich right into it, but instead we remain bottom and are now six points adrift again.

You would think that after Norwich had a man sent off, Forest would really seize control of the game, but instead they found themselves trailing just three minutes after Gary Doherty was giving his marching orders for a professional foul on Nathan Tyson. Forest had defended very poorly straight from the kick off and were struggling to cope with Norwich's pace up front. Kelvin Wilson seemed to be largely at fault for the goal as he failed to clear the ball properly, enabling Martin Patterson to score.

The defence had done really well during the unbeaten run, but it really looked very shaky yesterday evening. Wilson was especially poor, and looks like his confidence has taken a huge knock. Ever since he was handed the captaincy, he has not performed nearly as well. I just don't think he is a leader, but then again who is? We don't have any at all, and when you're in a crisis, you really need a good captain. I just can't think of anyone who would be suitable for the job. I never rated Ian Breckin as a captain before, but I do think he should come back into the side for Wilson at the moment, because at least he's got experience and maturity.

I thought we looked quite good going forward in the first half and we did create a few good chances to score with Joe Garner forcing a good save out of the Norwich goalkeeper, but the final ball was again found wanting, and there was a touch of fortune about Paul Anderson's equaliser five minutes before half time. He did well to turn with the ball, but the shot itself should have been saved. But still, it was good to see Anderson actually get on the scoresheet. He has been quite frustrating so far showing odd flashes of brilliance, but also giving the ball away far too much. At the moment I don't think he's anything special, but then he is playing for Colin Calderwood, and how many good players have been made to look rubbish under his management?

Once we had got the equaliser, I thought we'd go on to win, but in the second half we were dreadful. Gareth McCleary had come on at half time for Matt Thornhill, which should have made us more of an attacking threat, but if anything we just got worse. McCleary looked like he had got stage fright performing in front of the cameras and kept losing possession. Forest just began to lose their way, and in the 73rd minute only had themselves to blame when they defended poorly again when Luke Chambers haplessly put through his own net when trying to clear the ball. Perhaps his luck had run out, having seen Lee Camp save an injury time penalty awarded against him at Bristol City last week.

But although it was Chambers who scored the own goal that lost us the game, I think most of the blame should be directed firmly at Calderwood. Straight after Norwich had gone back in front, he took off left back Joe Heath, and asked our main source of creativity in midfield Chris Cohen to go and play in defence. And even worse he replaced Cohen with Garner! So we were left with just Tyson up on his own up front despite us being 2-1 behind and needing to win the game! If that's not proof that Calderwood doesn't know what he's doing, I don't know what is. When you're losing a game at home that you simply must win and playing against ten men, playing one up front is just ridiculous. The commentators on the TV said we were a 'one-trick pony' and were just trying to lump mainly useless long-balls up to Tyson all the time. When you have your manager deploying stupid tactics like these, it's no wonder we are where we are in the table.

I was dreading the Doncaster game, but I am not now. In a strange way I feel quite relaxed about it. I have made up my mind that we are going down now no matter what happens on Tuesday night. We're coming up to the midway point in the season and we have just 12 points so far out of a possible 54. That means we've only managed to earn 22% of the points available to us so far. In order to reach the 50-point barrier, which would probably be enough for us to survive, we'd need 38 points from the remaining 84, and that means we need to more than double our percentage return for the rest of the season. Even the most optimistic person in the world would have to conceive that that would be a really tall order.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Super Camp!!

If somebody said to me after the Cardiff defeat a few weeks ago that we would get five points from our next three away trips to Crystal Palace, Derby and Bristol City, I would have asked if they were feeling alright.

When we lost to Cardiff, I thought that was it, we're going down. But then a few days later we managed to overturn the odds and defeat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and bring an end to our awful six-game losing streak on our travels. That victory came as a very timely fillip as we prepared for the trip to Derby. Another good performance there aided by a huge slice of refereeing incompetence earned us a deserved point, and despite us being ravaged by injury and illness for the home game against Birmingham, we dominated the game and should have walked away with all three points.

I had no idea what to expect against Bristol City, though. They were just outside the play-off places, so a draw would be a good result, although considering our parlous position at the foot of the Championship, we really could do with another win. And we did make a good fist of it, going ahead through Joe Garner, who finally broke his goalscoring duct for us, early in the game. Bristol City, though, took advantage of our sloppiness in retaining possession, and they equalised not long before half time. But when Nathan Tyson restored our lead just two minutes into the second half, I must admit that I thought we'd go on to win the game.

Unfortunately, though, we were not able to hold on as City equalised from a corner with eleven minutes remaining. And as the home side were applying so much pressure by then, I feared we were going to throw it all away and leave empty-handed. And were it not for a certain Mr Lee Camp, that's exactly what would have happened as in the dying seconds of injury time, just like at Derby, the referee pointed to the penalty spot. And just like at Derby, Luke Chambers was the player responsible for the kick being awarded. But this time, there was no doubt at all that it should be a penalty as Chambers had made a rather unnecessary rash tackle. It would have been a crying shame if he had cost us the game as he had been playing well, but the Forest fans would have just remembered that one incident and lambasted him for it. He can thank his lucky stars then that Camp was once again donning his superman outfit and pulled off another terrific save to deny Michael McIndoe and prevent what would have been a very unjust defeat for Forest.

Obviously it is very disappointing that we couldn't hold on to our lead, but I am pleased with the result. We played very well again and if our shooting had been sharper we could have won quite comfortably, but we can't expect Forest to have instant success overnight. Only a very stubborn person could deny that we have improved massively in the last three or four weeks. We have gone from a team that loses every week drained of confidence and no idea what scoring a goal feels like to one that has gone four games unbeaten, including three away from home against tricky opposition. We have also scored six goals in our last four, and have been unlucky not to score more. If that is not progress, I don't know what is. I honestly expected us to be half relegated by now, so the fact that the gap has now been cut down to four points is a lot better, and with a glut of games coming up before Christmas against the so-called lesser lights of the Championship, I think we have a great chance of getting ourselves out of the bottom three before the bells usher in the start of 2009.

Strikeforce must get its act together if we are to survive

When I heard the team news before the game against Birmingham, I must admit I thought that we were going to be on the receiving end of a thumping, so the fact that we dominated a lot of the game and managed to hold the second-placed team shows how much we have improved in the last few weeks.

No fewer than six of the players who started the game against Derby last week were missing, with injury, illness and suspension giving Colin Calderwood no choice but to make a lot of changes. For a game against one of the Championship's most potent strikeforces, the last thing Forest needed was for their defence to be weakened, but with both Joel Lynch and Julian Bennett being unavailable, it meant that Joe Heath would be handed a rare start at left back, and a recall for Luke Chambers at right back, so James Perch could switch to midfield and fill in for the injured Carl Fletcher. I was quite surprised that Ian Breckin was dropped to the bench after a couple of good performances away from home. I felt that he deserved to keep his place, especially as Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan had been less than solid together so far this season.

When we went behind quite early, I thought that we were going to be in for a long afternoon. Birmingham were torturing our makeshift defence and there was a sense of inevitability when they finally made the breakthrough. But to Forest's credit, they did not let their heads drop, as might have been the case earlier on in the season when going behind. There seemed to be a new air of confidence about them following a couple of good away results at Crystal Palace and Derby. The defence gradually began to get its act together as the first half wore on, and by half time, Forest could consider themselves hard done by not to be at least level, considering how much possession they had.

Forest were excellent in everything but their finishing in the second half, and made Birmingham look like an average midtable side, rather than one which had won nine of their fifteen games so far this season. Our hard work and endeavour was finally rewarded seven minutes after the restart when James Perch headed the ball home following a free kick from Chris Cohen. And from then on Forest dominated the rest of the match with Nathan Tyson causing the Brum defence all sorts of trouble. He had numerous good opportunities to score but much to the Forest fans' frustration, he was thwarted every time.

Having been convinced that we were going to be thrashed, I cheered when the referee blew his whistle. I would definitely have taken a point before the game, but I can't help but think what might have been if we had better finishers at the Club. Joe Garner for me has been disappointing so far, and Tyson's final ball seems to have deserted him, scoring once all season. Worryingly Rob Earnshaw, who sat out the game with a calf injury, is very injury prone, and this means that he'll constantly be playing catch-up just to get his match fitness back. That is not good for Forest at all. The fact that our top scorer in the League is Mr Own Goal tells you all you need to know.

There is no doubt that we are improving a lot. I did say that we'd be lucky to get one point from the last three games, so the fact that we have got five is really impressive, but we do need to start picking up wins quickly, because the other teams above us are starting to pull away now. We're still five points adrift, and our goal difference is not getting any better as we are just not scoring enough. Fortunately there are quite a few poor teams around us, and we will be playing many of them in the next few weeks. If we can pick up a lot of points between now and Christmas I think we'll be alright. The determination and team spirit is definitely there, so at least we've got two of those qualities needed in a relegation battle. They were missing the last time we went down, so I am a bit more hopeful that we will get ourselves out of trouble, but that won't happen if our strikers don't start scoring goals soon.

Lady luck is in our Camp at last

Forest have complained a lot of being unlucky this season, but I don't think anybody can argue that we didn't have more than our fair share of it in the crazy dying stages at Pride Park.

My heart sank when the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Derby had scored what looked to be a stoppage-time winner. I've no idea why the goal was disallowed anyway. Luke Chambers was accused of handling it, but whether he did or didn't, Derby had scored a legitimate goal. Then Lee Camp superbly saved Nacer Barazite's spot-kick, which would definitely have won the game for them as there were just seconds left. I went from being absolutely distraught to ecstatic in the space of seconds. But then Derby scored again through Miles Addison, it looked like they had got justice. But bizarrely the referee Stuart Attwell again disallowed it for no apparent reason at all. And we nearly committed the greatest robbery of the 21st century when Paul Anderson was clean through on goal at the other end only to scuff his shot. To be honest, even though three points certainly would have come in handy, if we had won after all the controversy at the other end, people would have been saying we didn't deserve it, and I would have to agree. We did play well, don't get me wrong, but I can't deny that Derby should have had the three points.

With all that happened right at the end of the game, it's easy to forget about the goals that had been allowed. We started the second half very brightly and were rewarded for that when Emanuel Villa put through his own net following a corner. But Villa made up for it by scoring at the right end to equalise from a Kris Commons free kick eleven minutes later, and when Lewis McGugan was sent off for a rash challenge, I decided that if we could hold on for a point, it would be a good result all things taken into consideration.

The referee was card-happy, booking five of our players and sending off McGugan, and it resulted in both Carl Fletcher, who was replaced by Chambers at half time, and Joe Garner being substituted to protect them against being sent off. Both kept rubbing the referee up the wrong way, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before one of them was shown the red card, so Colin Calderwood was right to take them off. But it's just a shame that in Fletcher's case it meant that James Perch had to go back into midfield and Chambers replaced him at right back. We had looked comfortable in defence in the first half, but Chambers was exploited a lot on the right hand side and really struggled. Perch had been ok there, and it makes me wonder if things had stayed as they were, we might have held on for a vital win.

Still, I am very happy with a point, and we could so easily have been cut adrift by ten points after the trips to Palace and Derby. To get four points from them is very good after losing all our previous six games on our travels. I think we are definitely improving, and now it doesn't feel like a lost cause any more. In previous relegation battles that I have known supporting Forest, we have gone down with not much of a fight, but I think there is definitely a lot of fight in this team. We are looking like a good side with Anderson and Garner. I just pray both can stay fit, because they are very injury prone. The defence is also getting a bit better, and I think this is largely down to the presence of Camp in goal. He has been brilliant for us since he joined two weeks ago. I hope we can sign him permanently. I just feel a whole lot more confident with him in goal and now understand why Paul Smith was dropped.

As for Calderwood, he has saved his job for the time being. I would love to see him succeed here, because believe it or not I don't actually hate the man. The only thing that matters is Forest, and if he is successful, then Forest are. We are now five points adrift of safety, which at this stage of the season, early in November, is not that terrible. If we're still in the relegation zone in a month's time and we're five or six points adrift then, then we should start panicking, but we have some big games in November against struggling sides. Norwich and Barnsley visit us on consecutive weekends, and we also go to Doncaster, who are now bottom instead of us (yippee). First of all, though, we have to somehow avoid a good thrashing next week at home to Birmingham. I think everything rests on how well we defend. I fear a good hammering will set us back and we will lose all our confidence again. That must not happen. If we do lose, then we must keep our heads held high and move on to the next game, because Birmingham are a very good side, and we are still trying to adapt to life back in the Championship. We have undoubtedly made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks. Having Anderson, Garner and Rob Earnshaw in the side has without a doubt been a huge factor and also playing 4-4-2 to accommodate those players has also helped immensely. Even though we are second from bottom and five points adrift, I think we have a good side now, and we are no longer the no-hopers of the division. I think that honour now befalls Doncaster, and maybe even Charlton who are just above us. They, however, will probably get out of it as Alan Pardew will almost certainly be sacked after they lost 3-0 at home to Barnsley.

We just need to find two other teams who are worse than us, but nobody apart from Doncaster and us have been on dreadful losing streaks yet, so it's difficult to gauge at the moment which teams are going to be in the relegation mix in the last few months of the season. I keep thinking of that home game on the final day against Southampton, who are also struggling, and my stomach churns. To save our Championship status on the final day with a win over the Saints would be as good as beating Yeovil last season when we were promoted. But if it went wrong...no let's not even go there.

A win at long last, but is the damage already done?

Sorry you had to wait so long for my latest blog to appear. I have only just got over the shock of winning away from home!

I remember telling my mum as we were eating our dinner that I was preparing for another depressing evening ahead, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see us (a) play well for 90 minutes (b) win our first game since the last Olympics and (c) gain our first away points after losing all our previous six games on our travels.

I don't know who or what made the difference, but Forest showed a huge amount of grit and determination, which to be honest they had shown a lot of this season, but not been rewarded for it. Against Crystal Palace, though, their hard work finally paid off as Forest capitalised on a lacklustre performance from the home side to earn a crucial three points, which saw them swap places with Doncaster and lift themselves off the foot of the Championship table. And what an important win it has turned out to be, because the picture could be very bleak now if we had lost or drawn as we'd be eight or nine points adrift and staring relegation firmly in the face.

I think the return of Robert Earnshaw to the fold following a short injury lay-off may just coincide with an upturn in our fortunes. We just seem to have more confidence when he is in the team, and on Tuesday night he and Joe Garner were playing up front together for the first time as Forest played 4-4-2 and we just sounded so much better going forward. We created a lot of chances and made their goalkeeper work hard, which is just so unlike what we have been used to away from home in recent times. We also defended well, and dare I say it, but I think Ian Breckin being in central defence helped to steady the ship a bit. He was deputising for Kelvin Wilson, who was injured, but I would like to see Breckin given an extended run in the team. After all he does have a lot of Championship experience, and we probably need an old head at the back because they are all so young, and I'm not sure that's a good idea in a relegation battle.

Palace sounded quite poor, but I don't think that should detract from Forest's display. We have played many poor teams this season, but been just as poor ourselves, and consequently missed out on some much needed points, but at Selhurst Park there was not an awful lot wrong about our performance. I thought 'here we go again' when Palace equalised out of nothing with a long-range goal, and I was just waiting for them to score again, and once again leave us empty-handed. That goal had come shortly after both Garner and Earnshaw had departed the field, so I couldn't see us scoring, but for once lady luck was in our camp as eight minutes from time one of the substitutes Matt Thornhill bundled the ball over the line after the Palace goalkeeper spilled a shot from James Perch, who had been one on one with him. Colin Calderwood has come in for a lot of criticism regarding his substitutions, and sometimes rightly so, but when his substitute scores the winning goal, you have to take your hat off to him.

If Forest don't gain confidence from this win, there is something wrong with them. Let's not forget that Palace had won three of their previous four games, including a 2-0 win away to us. Even the most optimistic of fans would have said a draw would be a good result, so to beat them, and dominate the game for long spells is extremely pleasing. It is such a relief to see that we are no longer bottom of the Championship. It's an awful feeling seeing our name propping up the rest, and although we are still in a lot of trouble, at least we now have a bit more hope that we can turn our season around. This victory has come exactly at the right time as we prepare for the big game at Derby on Sunday lunchtime. Imagine going there rock bottom of the League with no wins in eleven games. Having beaten Palace, it will give us the belief that we are capable of beating the Sheep. They are slowly getting better and better, picking up some good results, but we will go there with a spring in our step, and I do not see why we can't beat them. Having Earnshaw back in the side certainly makes me feel better, and hopefully Paul Anderson will have recovered in time from the injury that kept him out of the game on Tuesday. With Anderson, Earnshaw and Garner all in the side, we could cause defences a lot of problems. We do look a lot better side playing 4-4-2. It looks as though Calderwood has finally realised that playing 4-3-3 just doesn't work in the Championship as he has ditched it lately. Forest have always flourished playing the old-fashioned 4-4-2 and it's what the supporters want. It does make me wonder that if we had all our key players available from the start, we wouldn't be in this mess. I just hope that the damage hasn't already been done.

What a pointsless waste of time

Colin Calderwood said after the home defeat against Cardiff that he could see a lot of positives and that if we look beyond what is happening now, the future is bright. This man gets funnier and funnier every time he speaks. At least there is still some entertainment value to be had from supporting Forest, because let's face it there is precious little else to smile about at the minute.

The surprise news that Joe Garner would make his home debut gave us all a lift prior to kick-off, and a decent first half in which we played some very good football, but were once again let down by the final ball, gave us a lot of hope that we could get three points, but things did not look too promising for the second half when Paul Anderson, who had been such an influence in the first 45 minutes, did not emerge after the break and was replaced by Nathan Tyson. I just knew then that without Anderson, Forest wouldn't be very good, and so they proved, and Cardiff ended up winning from a penalty.

Our defence still looked dodgy even though both Luke Chambers and Julian Bennett weren't in the side. I feel a lot safer with James Perch at right back, but I am worried about Joel Lynch. I just don't think he's Championship quality. I also thought Kelvin Wilson had an awful game. I am really surprised that he has seemingly not made the step up. Maybe he is suffering from a lack of confidence, but he doesn't deserve his place in the side at the moment, and I have to say I thought that when Chambers came on for him, he played rather well and looked competent as a central defender, which we have always suspected.

I wasn't expecting to get much from the game, as Cardiff had lost just once all season, but we so badly needed the win. We needed to get four points out of six from these two home games we've just had, but as I predicted we have ended up with just one. Now we have three extremely hard looking games with back-to-back away matches at Crystal Palace and Derby, and then Birmingham, who are in red hot form at the moment, come to the City Ground. It's looking extremely bad for us. I can't see us getting more than one point from all three of those matches. That's not me being pessimistic – just a realist. I've given up hoping for Deadwood to go, because I've given up on this season. I don't believe that anyone can turn it around now. I think we're sunk. I am not suicidal at the thought of returning to League One, but I am at the prospect of having to endure another six months of hopelessness before we can think about moving forward. Now I know how the Derby fans felt last season. And I bet they are having a right good laugh at us, Kris Commons included.

Wake me up when the season ends

I was going to give last night's game against Ipswich a miss, despite my dad offering to drive me up there, but on Monday afternoon, feeling a bit better following a wretched weekend of illness, I changed my mind as I had this unexplained feeling that we were going to see a good Forest performance and that they would at last put an end to their miserable winless sequence. How wrong was I?

True we had a few bright spells, and Paul Anderson, who finally got to make his home debut following a long injury lay-off, looked a real prospect and frightened the Ipswich defence with his pace, but he did a lot of defensive work, too, and it didn't always pay off as he gave a penalty away early in the second half, which saw Ipswich equalise to cancel out Gareth McClearly's earlier strike.

I was also impressed with our new goalkeeper, Lee Camp, who has signed for three months on loan. I didn't think it was very fair that Paul Smith should be dropped, because the defenders in front of him are the ones to blame for our shocking start, not him, but Camp does look a lot better goalkeeper. He does everything that Smith doesn't. He commands his area well, has good distribution and doesn't flap at crosses. I hope he stays in the team, but I do feel sorry for Smith at the same time. Rumours are he was furious at being dropped last night and walked out – the fact that he wasn't even on the subs bench last night could give weight to that theory.

It's all very well having a good goalkeeper, but you've got to have a good defence, and I'm afraid to say ours is awful. There isn't one player who has been playing well this season. Both Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan have been shocking, and those two players were excellent last season, but they've just gone to pot in the Championship. Everything has been said a million times about Luke Chambers and Julian Bennett being our full backs, so there's no point going over old ground again, but the sooner they clear off the better, because they are both garbage. Bennett suffered a broken collar bone last night so faces two months on the sidelines. That's sad news for him, but Forest will not miss him, although his replacement Joel Lynch has failed to impress me since he arrived from Brighton. I thought it was an odd decision to sign him in the first place to be honest.

Had we won last night, we would have got ourselves off the bottom of the table as Doncaster lost at Reading, but instead we're six points adrift, and that gap will just get bigger and bigger. Confidence is at a very low ebb and I honestly can't see how we are going to turn it around. The whole Club is rotten from top to bottom. We were extremely lucky to win promotion on the final day. We were only really a top six side in League One last season, and would probably have capitulated in the play-offs if we hadn't sneaked into the automatic spots. I am beginning to wish that we hadn't got promotion now, because I am absolutely hating it in the Championship. All the fun has been sucked out of supporting Forest. I was so looking forward to this season, but now I just can't wait for it to end.

Forest just leave me Cald

I'm feeling pretty rough at the moment, so I certainly don't need Forest to make me feel even more rotten. I'm suffering from the worst cold ever, and there's constant talk of financial Armageddon on the news. At least my cold will go in a few days, but I'd gladly keep it a bit longer if it meant Colin Calderwood was handed his P45 on Monday morning.

I didn't expect us to get anything from QPR, and we're still five points from safety, so in one sense things haven't got any worse, but despite playing well (ish), we still lost, and that is becoming a pattern for all of our away games. We should have got something at Sheffield Wednesday, should have got something at Plymouth, should have done this, should have done that, etc., etc. That is the language used by relegation candidates. I think the players (and some fans) are deluded. On the phone-in after the match yesterday evening, one person had us all laughing when he thought that Forest had blown their chances of promotion!! He thinks we 'may' be in a relegation battle. No really? I hadn't noticed. Only, I wouldn't even use the word 'battle' with Forest. A battle is supposed to be competitive, and Forest don't seem to be putting up much resistance at all. They are doing a very good impression of Derby in the Premiership last year. The only difference is Derby actually had the excuse of being beaten by top quality sides bankrolled by multi-millionaires and billionaires. We've lost all six of our away games, and we will be visiting Pride Park in a fortnight. Derby have got their act together now and are moving in the right direction up the table. Who is laughing at them, now? We've had our three months of gloating. It's business as usual now.

Before the Derby game, we have back-to-back home games against Ipswich and Cardiff and a tricky looking away game at Crystal Palace next Tuesday night. Both of the games at home are winnable, but confidence is so low that we'll probably end up with one or two points from them, knowing Forest as I do. I have a season ticket, but I don't feel like going any more. It all feels rather hopeless and the spark has gone. It's alright if you can just hop on a bus and be there in five or ten minutes, but I have to give up my whole Saturday to travel to Nottingham, and spend nearly £20 on a train ticket. It really wears me down, and I am getting zero enjoyment out of it. It hurts to contemplate not going any more, but I'm seriously considering it. It has nothing to do with protesting – it just makes me too sad. I've got other hobbies now which give me a lot of pleasure, so my life doesn't completely revolve around Forest any more. They can be a sideline (albeit a really irritating one) and not be the focal point of my whole existence. Yes, that's the way it's got to be from now on.

Big Sam will sort us out...if only he is given a chance

Colin Calderwood said in the press a few weeks ago that after ten games you should have some idea of how your season is going to pan out, and that he should not be judged as a manager until we had reached that stage.
Well, now that we have played ten games, Forest are currently sitting rock bottom of the Championship, five points adrift of safety with a measly five points to show for their efforts. We have won just once so far this season and haven't scored in our last four games. The defence is the worst in the League, shipping in 18 goals already, and at this rate we will be virtually relegated by Christmas.

The Crystal Palace game was the ideal opportunity for us to get back to winning ways, but you could tell by the players' body language that when Palace scored from a long-range effort just three minutes into the game that they were defeated already. That goal was a real body blow because we had spurned so many chances in those opening few minutes. It might have been a very different story if we had actually managed to score. But after Palace took the lead, it just got very scrappy and all hopes of snatching an equaliser were snuffed out when Palace took advantage of yet more dodgy defending to put the game out of our reach in the closing stages.

To be quite honest, I am getting really fed up of travelling to the home games now. I am just not enjoying it any more. It costs me £18 to travel up on the train from Bedford, and I just end up feeling really miserable and almost every Sunday is written off nursing a headache, caused by the stress of watching the match and carrying a heavy bag everywhere.

I have been through this before with Forest, of course, and I have always rediscovered my passion for them, but I just feel like giving up on them at the moment and staying at home reading or watching television. The trouble is I have a season ticket, and I have only been to five games so far. I need to go to another five to justify the cost based on prices of £25, but I am just not sure I can stomach it. There doesn't seem much point, and I can see us being something like ten points adrift if Deadwood isn't sacked before the QPR game in two weeks. I just don't know what the hell the Club is playing at not sacking him sooner. It's blatantly obvious to everybody that he is just totally out of his depth in this division. We need a manager with know-how of fighting relegation battles. Deadwood just doesn't have any experience. That might suggest he's a good manager, having never been at the bottom of a division, but he's only managed Northampton, who were hot favourites to get promoted from League Two, and us, so his wins-to-games ratio isn't as impressive as it might seem.

There have been very strong rumours that Sam Allardyce has been having talks with Forest about coming in and taking over. If that is true, then that is very good news in my opinion because I am sure he will sort us out. I think he's just what we need. He's quite disliked for playing boring long-ball football, but who cares? We are in huge trouble and we need points desperately. It doesn't matter how we get them. I also think the players will be scared of him. He is not one to be crossed, and he will be furious with the players. Calderwood is a soft touch and is scared of dropping his favourites even when they're playing badly. Allardyce will not stand for any nonsense and he knows one or two things about tactics. He did a wonderful job at Bolton, and he, of course, knows the Nottingham area inside out, having managed Notts County. I personally would love him to come here. I don't care if he was involved in a bung scandal, If he doesn't go out mugging little old ladies, then get him at the City Ground A.S.A.P.

Calderwood must go NOW to give Forest survival hope

Another away game, another defeat. We may only be just into October, but we are looking very much like relegation certainties at the moment. We've no idea where our next goal is going to come from, never mind our next win.

Yes, we did play reasonably well at Sheffield Wednesday, and Andy Cole did have a number of good opportunities to equalise, but I'm getting fed up of saying 'we nearly did that, we nearly did this.' The fact is we lost, and once again a sloppy defensive error cost us. This time the recalled Ian Breckin was the guilty party as a seemingly tame shot deflected off the back off him and rolled across the line. The commentators on the radio said we were unlucky, but I am sick of hearing that word. Forest have been very poor so far this season and they deserve to be where they are in the table because they are not good enough. Now whether that's down to the players just not being up to it, the manager not being able to motivate them, or just a complete lack of confidence, I don't know, but what I do know is that this just can't continue for much longer, otherwise the battle to avoid relegation will be to avoid finishing second and third bottom. We could end up being cast adrift of safety like Derby were in the Premiership, and for that to happen to a club of Forest's size in the Championship would be just beyond embarrassing.

Colin Calderwood is getting increasingly desperate to hang on to his job. His team selection last night for the trip to Hillsborough was extremely negative, with no fewer than SIX central defenders playing, I kid you not. There were three at the back with Luke Chambers and Julian Bennett operating as wing backs, and James Perch, who considers his best position to be in central defence, was in midfield. It was obvious that Calderwood would be happy with a point, but thanks to another moment of madness at the back, we ended up leaving with nothing, despite holding our own for most of the match. We didn't actually start creating much until we made some substitutions and switched to a flat 4-4-2 formation, but then, of course, Wednesday started to create chances themselves, and Paul Smith saved us from a more humiliating defeat, which would not have done our already bad goal difference much good.

People are saying that Calderwood should be given the Crystal Palace game, and if we fail to win that then he should go, but what is the point in flogging a dead horse? We're bound to win the odd game under him, but we will not win enough under him in the Championship to stay up. There are plenty of good teams in this division, who will easily beat us, even at the City Ground, so we won't be able to rely on our home form like we could last season.

I honestly don't see where our next win is going to come from, because I thought we were going to beat Burnley and Charlton, but we didn't. We have a really good chance of beating Palace, but our confidence is so low at the minute and the fans are depressed, so I am being careful not to build my hopes up. Even if we do win, I don't think I'm going to feel ecstatic or anything because we still won't be out of the relegation zone and I know that there will be plenty more tough games to come after that. For that reason, perhaps it would be for the best if Forest were to lose on Saturday, and then we can appoint the new manager, who will have the international break to prepare for his first game. If Calderwood stays with Forest, he will drag us back down to League One, you can be sure of it.

Where on earth do we go from here?

I'm feeling so depressed about Forest at the moment that I am thinking that perhaps I'd be better off without them. Sure, I will never experience the magical highs of last season's promotion or when we score a last minute equaliser, but at least I will be content and not wake up every Sunday morning with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I have plenty of other hobbies to keep me happy, so I'll be alright. Millions of people live perfectly happy lives not supporting football teams. There is more to life, of course there is. Forest do not dominate my life. They're just a small part of it. I've long since got over the days of chucking my remote control at the door when they've just lost, or sat in silence at the dinner table and refused to speak to anybody. I've sacrificed twenty years of my life for this team, and for the most part they've just made me miserable. I've given up every single weekend to follow them, whether it's at the match itself, on the internet, or even just on teletext. I am beginning to feel very foolish now. Over the past two decades, I could have been out having fun every Saturday, going shopping, to museums, or sightseeing in the countryside, but instead I've just sat in my room wasting my life. There were times when it was worth the sacrifice, but apart from the unexpected promotion last season on the final day, there has been very little to cheer about in the past five years. The summer optimism following our promotion is quickly dissipating and now as Forest lie rock bottom of the Championship with just one win from eight games, things are looking incredibly bleak again, and I just don't think I have the stomach for it any more.

We were absolutely ecstatic when we snatched promotion on the final day, and for me that's what makes our current situation so painful. We really thought that the Club was finally on the road to recovery and that we'd be going from strength to strength. The signing of Robert Earnshaw was a really good bit of business and it showed we had ambition. Then we managed to persuade Paul Anderson, a very highly rated winger from Liverpool, to join us on loan, and he was followed up by Andy Cole, who finally got to realise his dream of playing for his home town club, and Joe Garner, a very promising striker from Carlisle. But although all of these signings seemed good at the time, only Earnshaw has proved his worth so far. Cole is already showing signs of being disillusioned with life under Colin Calderwood, complaining that he doesn't want to play a bit-part role at Forest, despite not playing well when he does get on the pitch. The Anderson signing has turned out to be a disaster. We paid Liverpool nearly £1 million to loan him for the entire season, only to discover that he had not recovered from a thigh injury which he got while playing for Swansea, and I doubt we will be seeing him play this side of Christmas at this rate.

At least Joe Garner is very close to returning from his long-term knee injury, but if you think he is going to make a big difference, you're mistaken. Nobody knows if he will make the step up from League One to the Championship, first of all, and even if he does score goals, he's not going to stop us leaking them at the back, is he? If we persist with this defence, we will go down, no mistake. Not one of them, even Kelvin Wilson, has been playing well this season, and that is extremely worrying.

Wes Morgan has been awful lately, and I was actually glad when he was sent off in injury time yesterday in the 1-0 defeat at Plymouth. He may have been a tad unlucky with his clearance that led to the goal, but in every game so far this season, he has looked clumsy and hesitant. He is completely out of sorts, and now he must serve a one-game suspension, it will force Calderwood to change the defence at least. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd prefer to see Ian Breckin in there at the moment. At least he does have Championship experience, having played for Wigan, and he is a good header of the ball.

I'd also like to see our new loan signing from Brighton Joel Lynch be given a chance at left back. He can play central defence, too, but he is a good left back, according to Brighton's fans. Julian Bennett is really struggling there, and that is disappointing, because I thought he'd do well, but I'm afraid to say he's a bit of a liability and keeps getting booked for stupid tackles. At the very least he needs competition for his place because that might make him get his act together.

As soon as I saw that Luke Chambers was starting the game at right back, I knew we were going to lose the game. I don't know why Calderwood persists with him. He dropped him recently for the game at Preston, and then substituted him at half time last week against Charlton, so we finally thought that he had realised that he is no good as a right back, but surprise, surprise, he is back in the starting line-up at Plymouth, and once again for the umpteenth time, Chambers had a really poor game, constantly giving the ball away, losing his man, and seeing most of his crosses failing to get anywhere. He can count himself lucky that Plymouth were so poor, so he wasn't troubled too much defensively, but that, of course, did not stop Forest losing the game.

I wouldn't say Chambers was the worst player on the pitch, mind you. Guy Moussi was dreadful in midfield. He kept losing possession, and giving the ball away. We really thought he was something special when he first signed, and his first couple of home appearances showed a great deal of promise, but it's all gone horribly pear shaped since then, and now he looks awful. I don't think this 4-3-3 formation suits him at all, but he should still be able to get the basics right, and he's not even doing that. I don't want to write him off, though, because I think he's just lost his confidence, and if he was part of a good team, he'd not be so terrible. Under the guidance of a good manager, I'm sure we'd see a different player.

We've now played eight games and at the moment are doing a very good impression of a team destined for League One. We can't defend, we can't score goals, and we have lost all of our away games. The discipline is also starting to go, with two red cards in a week, and Nathan Tyson even managed to get booked after the whistle had blown for arguing with the referee yesterday. These are classic symptoms of a team in trouble. The only good thing is that time is very much on our side to sort it out. We are not cast adrift – yet. There are 38 games to play still, with plenty of points to play for. But I just don't think Calderwood is the man to turn it around. He has no motivation skills at all, and he is not ruthless enough when it comes to leaving out certain players. He is a lower League manager at best, and I just fear the worst if Forest persist with him much longer. Nice man I'm sure he is, but sorry, Colin, your time is up.

Signs of improvement, but make no mistake we're in a relegation fight

I'm still feeling really worried about relegation, but at least we are looking a bit better defensively now.

It is sickening seeing us second from bottom of the Championship, even at this very early stage, because those wonderful memories of the glorious last day of the season back in May are still quite fresh in our minds, and the thought of going down again is absolutely horrible. I think it would set us back further than when we went down the first time, as we were really bad then and relegation to League One was seen by many as a chance to clear out all the deadwood. After three years' hard slog, we finally got there with a young, promising squad with a good team spirit, which we thought would enable us to survive comfortably in the Championship. But after a poor start to the season with one win in our first seven matches and four defeats, it looks like we are going to be facing an uphill struggle to stay up.

I was really hopeful that our winless run might come to an end against Charlton, and any half-decent team in the Championship would probably have beaten them, as they were poor and only troubled Paul Smith in the dying moments when they could have snatched all three points were it not for his fantastic save that denied former Forest midfielder Andy Gray. But we just couldn't break them down, although it was to Forest's credit that they couldn't find a way past our defence, either. We did look a lot more comfortable at the back, especially when James Perch switched to right back, in place of Luke Chambers, who was subbed at half time.

Unfortunately, just as our defence is at last beginning to get its act together, our goals have started drying up at the other end. In our last four matches, we have scored just one goal that has come from a Forest player – Robbie Earnshaw's equaliser against Burnely a fortnight ago. The other two goals were own goals, which just about sums up our form at the moment.

Worryingly, Earnshaw limped off yesterday after he got injured. Hopefully it was just a knock, and nothing too serious, but if it is, I am not sure that Nathan Tyson and Andy Cole are good enough. Cole is a big disappointment so far. He may have his age as an excuse for not being as sprightly as he used to be, but he has often looked uninterested. Tyson, I feel, does really care, but his best just isn't good enough at the moment, and he must be due an injury soon as he's not had one for about two games.

One bit of good news is that Joe Garner is getting closer and closer to returning, but to be honest, I think people have too high expectations of him. He's not going to be back to his best straight away after having such a serious injury, and even if he was, there's no evidence to suggest that he will be a really good Championship striker. That is the trouble with Forest. Their squad is essentially of League One standard, and I think we need a much better manager than Colin Calderwood to have any chance of staying up.

Let's face it. We're just not good enough

Everyone expected a good thrashing at Preston, so I suppose you can say that last night's 2-1 defeat was a big improvement on our last outing, but once again silly defensive errors have ended up costing us the match.

Colin Calderwood deserves some credit for making changes to the back four in a bid to stop leaking so many goals. He finally came to his senses and removed Luke Chambers from right back, dropping him to the bench, and he also changed the formation to 4-4-2, which the fans have been begging him to do for ages. But the defence was still very makeshift with no orthodox full backs on the pitch. Kelvin Wilson was asked to play at right back, a position which he has admitted himself he is not comfortable in, and Chris Cohen switched from midfield to left back in place of Joe Heath, who was rewarded for a steady debut on Saturday against Burnley by being dropped from the squad altogether.

For quite a long spell in the first half, Forest were playing extremely well, and Preston were struggling to cope with us. We also looked a lot better defensively, and Robert Earnshaw was causing the home defence all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, though, this spell turned out to be nothing more than a purple patch, and Preston soon began to assert themselves and take control of the game. We did really well to hold out until half time, and there were very encouraging signs that the changes that Calderwood had made were paying off.

However, Forest lived up to their reputation of never actually managing to play well for a full 90 minutes, and in the early part of the second half, I'm afraid to say that they were a complete shambles. They undid all their good work of the first half when they conceded the softest of headed goals from the edge of the penalty area. If there was anybody stood at the near post, he would have cleared it away with ease, and even if he had not, Paul Smith should still have prevented the ball going in the net. Calderwood was uncharacteristically very critical on the radio after the match and said it was the worst goal he had ever conceded as a manager. He also made some scathing comments about the players, saying that one or two of them should take more responsibility. It sounds like there could be a bit of unrest in the dressing room.

As Wilson was playing at right back, where he did reasonably well considering he was out of position, it meant he was not in centre defence, where we desperately needed him. Now is it just me, or is Wes Morgan only any good when he's partnered with Wilson? Last night, he was absolutely terrible. He was extremely clumsy and kept committing fouls all over the place. Although Ian Breckin didn't play that badly, he and Morgan just don't work well as a central defensive pairing at all. Breckin is very good at heading the ball away and he is useful to have around as a squad player, but like Morgan, he gives away lots of fouls, and he is very slow to react sometimes. As well as a left and right back, it looks like we may well need to sign another central defender to partner Wilson, because Breckin, Morgan, and Chambers are just not Championship standard.

We may only have played six games, but as previous relegation battles have shown time and time again, once a team gets into a rut, it's very hard to get out of it. We're now third from bottom with just four points from eighteen. Nobody needs to be told that that is relegation form, and unless Forest improve drastically over the next few games, we will be in for a long, depressing season.

Usually a change of manager often does the trick, but Nigel Doughty just isn't in the habit of sacking managers. He waits until the fans are baying for his blood and forces him into leaving by 'mutual consent'. Calderwood will only go in January if we're still at the bottom, thus enabling the new manager to bring in reinforcements in the transfer window. But by then, it may just be too little, too late.

Sort the defence out, Colin, or we will go straight back down

I'm feeling really depressed about Forest at the moment. I've got a terrible feeling that we are going to struggle badly this season and be ensconced in a relegation fight.

I thought that the home game against Burnley would be an ideal opportunity to make amends for the dreadful Wolves defeat, but after a bright start, Forest just lost their way a bit when Graham Alexander scored from a free kick against the run of play, and a bizarre penalty decision late in the second half ended up costing Forest a much-needed three points and leave us languishing in 21st position in the table.

Last season's promotion success was built on the foundation of our defence which kept 24 clean sheets in League One, but having conceded 12 goals already in just five matches, it's become blatantly obvious that the current back four is not good enough for the Championship. Even taking the five goals at Molineux out of the equation, we've looked very shaky in every game. Burnley had only scored once in four matches before they came to the City Ground, yet they scored two yesterday, and were always threatening every time they got forward.

Everyone is desperate for us to play 4-4-2 because at least it would give us more shape, and not leave our defence so exposed. I just wish Colin Calderwood would have the guts to make changes, but he won't. Now that the transfer window is closed until January, we will have to make do with loan signings, but all I ever keep reading is that we're after yet another midfielder or a striker. It's defenders we need, Colin! Urgently. We need to sign a left and right back, as Julian Bennett is out injured at the moment, and has not been playing well since the season started anyway, and Luke Chambers is hopelessly out of his depth, yet somehow keeps being selected because he's one of Calderwood's favourites.

Although I said a couple of weeks ago that Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan are fine in the centre of defence, now I am not so sure. Although I don't blame him for giving the penalty away, Morgan was very shaky at times. In League One Morgan was excellent, but he has yet to prove himself in the Championship, and I am wondering if he is up to it.

I'm really dreading Tuesday when we go to Preston. If our first two away games at Swansea and Wolves are anything to go by, we're going to be in for another hiding to nothing. Preston have started really well, and Forest are low on confidence at the moment, so it's hard to see us getting anything out of the game. Although we really need a win, I think I will settle for a point and then hope we can beat Charlton next Saturday. We should try and win our home games and keep it tight away from home and try and draw games, because that will see us safe in midtable, which for me would be brilliant as I am so terrified of getting relegated again.

How can Calderwood defend the indefensible?

Before Saturday's horror show at Wolves, Colin Calderwood was insistent that our defence was good enough to cope in the Championship, and that he would not be making any moves in the transfer market to bolster the back line. Well, unless he is deaf, dumb and blind, he absolutely must sign a natural right back at the very least because if Luke Chambers continues in that position for much longer, we are going to be in big, big trouble.

Chambers never looked comfortable playing at right back last season in League One, and it was only his goalscoring ability from set pieces that really justified his place in the team, and the fact that Forest were so tight defensively meant that Chambers was adequate in the games where the opposition didn't really have much quality up front, but in the Championship, as our goals against column will testify with ten conceded in just four games, it is a very different story. The football is a lot more fast and furious, and our fullbacks, in particular Chambers, are being targeted as weak links, which seemed to be the case with Wolves, where their winger Michael Kightly tore Chambers apart, and made him look like a substandard non-League player.

It is time that Calderwood accepted that Chambers just cannot cut it as a right back, and he let him challenge for a central defensive position. He came to the Club with a good reputation as a promising central defender, but is now regarded as a laughing stock at right back. That's Calderwood's fault for playing him there, and not signing a proper right back last summer when John Curtis left. The transfer window closes on Monday, and Calderwood says that we will not be signing anyone, but the debacle at Molineux surely must have set alarm bells ringing. Julian Bennett wasn't much better than Chambers, and I thought he was going to be a good player for us this season. Bennett is now playing as badly as he was at the start of last season, and whether this is down to the fact that he is just not of Championship standard, or that he is not motivated enough because of lack of competition for his place, I don't know. I do know is that he has potential, unlike Chambers as a right back. But the fact remains is that both our full backs are at this moment in time not good enough, and they are costing us matches.

I think the centre of defence will be ok when Kelvin Wilson is playing alongside Wes Morgan, but Calderwood seems to love Ian Breckin, and even though Wilson was fit to start yesterday, following injury, he still couldn't oust Breckin from the team. Breckin is just too old and slow for the Championship, and he commits an awful lot of fouls, giving away stupid free kicks. That's not to say that I blame him and Morgan for the 5-1 drubbing, as it was largely down to the rubbish performances from Chambers and Bennett.

As for the rest of the team, well all the players had a bad day to be fair, even Guy Moussi, who looked out of sorts in midfield, and Lee Martin failed to make an impression at all. I forgot that Robbie Earnshaw was even playing as I don't remember hearing his name mentioned on the radio until he went off injured with a suspected hamstring injury. Hopefully it is nothing to worry about, and in a fortnight he will be fit and raring to go again.

I don't know if it's a good thing or not that we have two weeks until our next game, which is at home to Burnley. On one hand it would be good to get things out of our system with another match in midweek, but on the other, perhaps Forest need some time to work on their defending in training, because Wolves made them look like a bunch of amateurs who had never played together before.

I fully expected us to lose, but the manner in which it happened left me shell shocked at half time. The only saving grace was that we didn't let in more than one goal in the second half.

No disgrace in defeat as plucky Forest bow out

Even though we lost the game last night, I came away feeling really satisfied as we had played so well against Premiership opposition and did not deserve to go out of the League Cup.

In the first ten minutes or so, Forest couldn't get hold of the ball and it looked like we were going to be in for a long evening, but Forest gradually found their stride, and soon they were enjoying vast amounts of possession, playing some really good passing football, which Brian Clough would have been extremely proud of, watching from above. I thought that the whole team was excellent last night, and I was really impressed with their never say die spirit. It would have been easy to just give up when Sunderland went in front in extra time, but Forest kept on pushing them all the way, and even though they were left with nothing to show for their efforts in the end, they can be really proud of themselves.

Robbie Earnshaw's free-kick was absolutely brilliant, and I loved his somersault celebration, although I do worry about him injuring himself one of these fine days! Still, he has been practising them an awful lot, and nothing's happened to him so far. He is loving playing for Forest, and I'm really happy for him that things are working out. He had a dreadful time at Derby (well, who wouldn't to be fair?) and now he has been given this new lease of life. To say that he has scored four in five matches even though he's been up front on his own is quite an achievement. I can't wait until the other strikers are back to full fitness. I think we'll have a really exciting forward line when Earnshaw, Nathan Tyson, Andy Cole, Joe Garner, and Paul Anderson are all available.

It is a pity that they had to equalise so late on, but I think it was inevitable in many ways. We were becoming rather tired having worked so hard, and Sunderland seemed to be taking it easy and just stepped up a gear when it mattered most. That's probably the sign of being a good team. They scored early on in extra time, and despite Forest's best efforts, managed to hold on and book their passage into round three. Forest used to really love the League Cup, but over the years this competition has really become devalued in importance, and even though a place in Europe is guaranteed for the winners, not many teams, big or small, seem to take it too seriously these days. I myself am not bothered about it any more and just want Forest to concentrate on consolidating in the Championship, and possibly even challenge for a place in the top six. Judging by our performances so far this season, I certainly feel a lot more confident that we won't be making a hasty return to League One.

Watford win lifts a huge weight off our shoulders

What a relief it is to get our first win under our belts. If we had not beaten Watford, we would have had the unenviable task of visiting in-form Wolves, still seeking our first three points, so the fact that we have got that out of the way means that should we slip to defeat at Molineux, it won't be as bad as it could have been.

What was really pleasing was that Robbie Earnshaw and Nathan Tyson got themselves on the scoresheet yesterday, which really will boost their confidence. It was a dream comeback for Tyson, who was brought back earlier than expected from injury to take his place on the bench. He had only been on the pitch a couple of minutes before he tapped in from the rebound of a free kick to score what turned out to be the winning goal for us.

I was highly impressed with Lee Martin. His goal was something special, and his all-round contribution in midfield is very welcome. He has played well in all three of the matches he has played in since he joined, and I hope we can persuade him to stay on a bit longer, perhaps for the entire season, As long as he keeps performing like that, Paul Anderson will find it hard to break into the team when he recovers from his injury.

Isn't it brilliant to be talking about Forest having selection problems due to having too many good players?! Not so long ago, the starting eleven picked itself, but some players worthy of inclusion may have to make do with a place on the bench. And even then there are only four places for outfield players, so some people are going to be left very disappointed.

What does bemuse me is how Emile Sinclair manages to get on the bench every week. He always gets a run out, despite never making an impression at all. Yesterday I think the Brian Clough Stand fans stood up expecting Andy Cole to come on, but it turned out to be just Sinclair! Cole did later join the action, but didn't have much time really. It was a real boost to have both him and Tyson back, though. I thought they wouldn't be back until September.

If I have one complaint about yesterday, it was nothing to do with the players' performance on the pitch , but rather that of the extremely annoying man who stands near the tunnel. I expect you know who I mean, but for those of you who were fortunate enough not to hear it, I am talking about our new public announcer. Oh my god. He is dreadful. I was shaking my head in disbelief at the drivel coming out of his mouth. It's actually quite funny thinking about it now. The most cringeworthy thing was when he started rolling off our honours list when Forest emerged from the tunnel for the second half. And he called us the magic No-ing-ham Forest, failing to pronounce all the letters. You get the idea. Talk about a buffoon being employed by buffoons. Please, Forest, get rid of him, or at least tell him to turn up sober for the next match. I won't worry too much about Watford fans thinking we're a sad bunch of losers, but if he's still here when the more illustrious teams in this division visit, then I think I'll take some industrial-sized ear phones to block him out.

Welcome back to reality

I hate losing. I haven't experienced a Forest defeat in a competitive match for nearly five months, so I'd forgotten what it's like to have a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. I was enjoying the close season, not having to worry about the League table. Only it's not promotion that's likely to bother us this season, but relegation judging by Saturday's woeful defensive display at Swansea.

I know we've only played two games and nothing is won or lost in August, but the defeat against Swansea was nothing new to us or unexpected, as Forest have been like this away from home for what seems like eons. We just can't seem to get going on our travels and let teams completely outplay us. Swansea totally deserved the win, and should have had more than three goals to show for their efforts, while we could consider ourselves lucky when James Perch equalised very much against the run of play.

After the spirited goalless draw against Reading, I was really confident that our defence would be able to cope in the Championship after all, having contained Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita, but against Swansea, we were a shambles at the back. Swansea were by far the best side in League One last season, and there weren't many teams in that division that were so powerful going forward, but there are numerous teams in the Championship who would subject Forest to wave after wave of attacks just like Swansea did, so how on earth are we going to cope? I don't know whether it's that our defenders are just not good enough, or whether it's the tactics that leaves us exposed. It's probably a bit of both. If we were to play 4-4-2, something that seems to be foreign to Colin Calderwood, we might do a bit better, but he is obsessed with his beloved 4-3-3 formation, despite it being very ineffective away from home.

At times we did play quite well, and Lee Martin was clearly our best player as he caused the Swansea defence a lot of trouble, so there were a few positives to be drawn from the game, but I do worry what this result will do for our confidence as it's not as if we've got any easy looking fixtures on the horizon. We desperately need to get our first win out of the way, but where that is going to come, I've no idea, because our home fixture with Watford will be tough, as will our visit to Wolves a week later.

The last time we were relegated from the Championship, we didn't claim our first victory until the tenth game, and by then the rot had well and truly set in. I just pray that the same thing doesn't happen this time around and that our squad of 2008 can draw on their team spirit to help them bounce back from disappointing defeats, something I fear we may have to get used to in the Championship.

Morecambe mauling a sign of good things to come?

I wasn't really looking forward to the Morecambe game, and saw it as a bit of a nuisance, but I ended up enjoying listening to it in the end, and was really pleased that Robert Earnshaw opened his goals account with us with two well-taken goals.

I was quite surprised that we won the game so convincingly as I thought Morecambe would have put up more of a fight, but Forest were totally dominant from start to finish and could quite easily have got near double figures had their finishing been a bit more polished. Still, I'm more than happy with four goals, which the Sky reporter jokingly pointed out were one for every thousand that was in attendance!

Lee Martin, who we have just signed on loan from Manchester United for a month, was very effective on the left wing and terrorised the Morecambe defence. He sounds like just the kind of player we need to fill the void until Paul Anderson returns. It could be that Martin impresses so much that we opt to keep him a bit longer and we will forget all about Anderson. To be honest it looks likely that Anderson won't even get to wear a Forest shirt if his troublesome thigh injury keeps playing up.

We have big injury problems up front at the moment, but the emergence of 18-year-old Adam Newbold from the youth team could be something to get excited about. He came on as a substitute last night and scored a pretty good goal. I hadn't heard of him before he was named in the squad in pre-season. He may well be a first team regular in the not too distant future if he lives up to his promising debut.

I really can't remember the last time Forest actually gave a convincing performance in the League Cup, so last night's performance was pleasantly surprising. I didn't expect the players to be motivated for it, but it was a really professional display, which is what Cloughie would have approved of. I hope this is a sign of good things to come in the Championship, as obviously our main priority is to consolidate in that, but a good cup run is nothing to be sniffed at. We have landed a good plum tie at home to Sunderland in the next round, which means that Roy Keane will once again be returning to the City Ground, just a month after the pre-season friendly between the two sides. I can definitely see us overturning Sunderland on our own pitch, although the fact that Sky are showing it may put the jinx on that!