Sign a striker, or promotion charge will grind to a Holt

At long last, Forest seem to have rediscovered their form away from home. They should have got all three points at Leeds a fortnight ago, and they fully deserved the win at Leyton Orient. Since that awful day at Bournemouth at the beginning of the month, we've managed to pick up ten points from twelve, and as a result of Carlisle's win over Doncaster, we are back in second place.

I was not going to bother going to any more away games after the dreadful performance at Luton in the FA Cup, but as Leyton Orient is so easy to get to, and I had a free ticket, I didn't have much to lose. I am quite proud of myself as I went on the Underground on my own for the first time ever, and I got myself to Leyton without any trouble at all. To be honest, it's not the most difficult of journeys as the ground is just five minutes' walk from the station, but nevertheless going to the east end of London on my own is something of an achievement! The day really couldn't have gone more smoothly both from a personal perspective and a Forest point of view. I didn't have to wait for any of my trains, so I was back in Bedford at half past six!

I thought we played really well. You would think that playing five at the back would make us really defensive and boring, but at Leeds, and Leyton Orient we created a number of good chances, while stifling the opposition at the same time. If Nathan Tyson or maybe Will Hoskins had been playing instead of Grant Holt, I think we would have had a bigger scoreline to show for our efforts rather than having to rely on a tame shot from Junior Agogo slipping through the hands of the Orient goalkeeper. But now it appears that Hoskins could be on his way back to Watford as he has a troublesome back injury. Tyson will be out for the next month or so, and there's no guarantee that he won't get injured again when he returns, so we are really going to struggle to score goals, unless we sign somebody else on loan. But who, I don't know. There's been plenty of talk of loaning Billy Sharp from Sheffield United. He has struggled in the Championship, but he is a proven goalscorer in League One and could do a job for Forest, I'm sure. But would Sheffield United let him go, and would he be prepared to step back down a division?

All I do know is that we have to sign someone, as Holt is just terrible! I just can't see he and Agogo forming a good partnership at all. There's now just 14 games left, and every one of them to use an old cliché is going to be a cup final. If Holt is going to be leading our front line, I fear for us.

Time to stand up and be counted

I don't think anybody will be complaining if we get promoted to the Championship carving out uninspiring 1-0 victories, but we are going to have to play a lot better than we did against Swindon because better sides will punish us for not making the most of our possession.

We really struggled to create chances as everything was going right through the middle of the pitch. I am sure we would do so much better if we used proper wingers in a 4-4-2 formation, but Deadwood won't hear of it. The 4-3-3 system has worked at home in the main, but I still think the straightforward 4-4-2 is the way for Forest to play. But Deadwood seems more concerned with keeping a clean sheet than anything else. Well, what do you expect from a former centre half?

I've lost count of how many clean sheets we have kept this season. I think that's largely down to Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan, who really have forged a great understanding. Wilson has got a lot of the plaudits, but I think Morgan has been excellent, too. He has really bounced back from that terrible mistake he made against Yeovil. When Ian Breckin was in the team for a while, we were conceding lots of goals away from home, but before that, we were quite solid. Breckin is still handy to have around, though, as a reserve defender, and when we play five at the back, he is not likely to be so much of a liability.

We didn't really get a good rub of the green in front of goal yesterday, but thankfully Nathan Tyson's goal from a tight angle proved to be enough as Swindon offered nothing going forward, which seems to be the case for a lot of teams who visit the City Ground. It's just a crying shame that Tyson now faces another spell on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring yet again. Still at least we have Junior Agogo back from international duty. He put himself in the spotlight over in Africa and rather inevitably has sparked speculation that he could be leaving Forest in the summer. That will depend on whether we get promoted or not. I am sure he would be satisfied with playing in the Championship, considering that last season he was plying his trade in League Two.

We better hope that Agogo and Will Hoskins will work well together as a partnership. Hoskins was out injured yesterday, but he should be back for the big game at Carlisle on Tuesday. Now that Carlisle have a game in hand on us owing to the cancellation of their match at Crewe this weekend, it's absolutely imperative that we don't lose. I don't think we have anything to fear as long as we treat the game with the same respect as we did with Leeds. Our poor away form has got to come to an end at some stage. We've just got to stamp out the dreadful performances like at Bournemouth and really give our all in every single match now. If we can do that, then there is no reason why automatic promotion should be beyond our grasp.

A gritty away performance...but a point is no good to us

I know I said I would be delighted with a point at Leeds, but having taken a deserved lead and then conceded a penalty late on, I feel disappointed. The fact that Doncaster won again and are now six points clear of us in second place makes it even worse.

Many fans would have criticised Deadwood's decision to play five men at the back with Ian Breckin coming back into a three-man central defence, but to be fair Forest did play very well and were very threatening going forward. Nathan Tyson and Will Hoskins sounded like they got better service than they did on Saturday, and Forest did cause the Leeds defence a lot of problems. We deserved to take the lead when Julian Bennett scored his second goal in four days when he headed home from a Kris Commons corner twenty minutes from time. And Bennett was a hero again at the other end when he headed off the line to deny Leeds an equaliser, but unfortunately Forest could not hold on and were under severe pressure in the closing stages. The Reds finally succumbed seven minutes from time when Wes Morgan conceded a penalty, and Jermaine Beckford equalised from the spot.

A point at Elland Road on another day would probably have been a very good result, but while we can be proud of Forest's performance away from home (for once!), we really needed to win to keep the pressure on Doncaster, and keep the sides below us from leapfrogging us. Carlisle have done just that, and they happen to be our next away opponents a week today. We're going to have to aim to win our next two games now, as defeat at Carlisle could be really damaging to our promotion hopes. We should beat Swindon at the City Ground on Saturday, although I'm not taking anything for granted, of course, particularly as we have only just played them and got beaten at their place, but our home form is excellent, and on the back of this good performance at Leeds, we should be full of confidence. If we do beat Swindon, and then also get three points at Carlisle, it could be that we have cut Doncaster's lead. They can't keep on winning, can they? At the moment they are in a very enviable position, and although we have a game in hand on them – the Carlisle match – and we visit them in March, I think they may just have automatic promotion in the bag, as they are the only consistent team apart from Swansea.

I would take promotion via the play-offs in front of 40,000 Forest fans at Wembley any day over going up automatically, but I fear yet more semi-final heartache could be in store for us again this season, especially as I predict our opponents will be Walsall...

Home sweet home, but we've got to start playing away

I'm writing this in extreme pain as I somehow managed to pour boiling water down my trousers this afternoon. But that's another story for another day. I'm here to talk about Forest's victory over Millwall, so I best get on...

It was a dreadful first half performance, but they were miles better after the break and completely dominant. I don't think Millwall managed to muster a decent shot in the entire match. The only time Paul Smith was tested was when one of our own players passed the ball back to him. But we weren't exactly firing on all cylinders ourselves. Although Will Hoskins looked promising in the early stages when he produced a good save from the Millwall goalkeeper, he and Nathan Tyson didn't get very good service at all. It's just as well that we can rely on our full backs Julian Bennett and Luke Chambers to pop up with the odd goal now and again. Bennett gave us the lead three minutes into the second half with a header and ten minutes later Chambers scored his sixth of the campaign, from a few yards out, to make it a comfortable 2-0. Although having said that, it didn't stop me worrying when four minutes of injury time were declared, with recent late capitulations still fresh in my memory.

This latest victory at home sees us back into third place, keeping within touching distance of Doncaster, who are still four points ahead of us, although we do have a game in hand. We now boast a 14-match unbeaten record at the City Ground, which we last achieved in the 1995-96 season - when we were in the Premiership. In League One, I don't think it's anything to write home about. Any team with the kind of backing we get at the City Ground should find it quite easy to beat anybody. We had a pretty good record under Gary Megson as well, if I recall. But go away from home, and it's a completely different story. And until we sort out our away form, we will be going nowhere.

The only trouble is, our next away game happens to be at Leeds United on Tuesday night! They're currently going through a bad patch themselves at the moment, having taken only one point from the last five matches, but the big game atmosphere and the rivalry between the two sets of supporters will really gee the home side up, while Forest as usual will freeze. If we get a point at Elland Road, I will be absolutely delighted. But if they play anywhere near as bad as they did against Bournemouth last weekend, we will be in for an embarrassing hiding. At least if Leeds do win they won't be able to overtake us in the table anyway.

Will Hoskins really make a difference?

I'd like to say I was really excited about signing Will Hoskins on loan, but I'm not. I don't think he'll make a scrap of difference to our away form, because Deadwood isn't suddenly going to become a tactical genius overnight is he?

Hoskins does come with quite a good reputation, although it is built on a three-year spell at Rotherham, where he scored 23 goals in 73 appearances. He even bagged a move to the Premiership when Watford were convinced enough to shell out £1.2 million for his services. But he failed to make his mark there, only making ten appearances all together and not managing to hit the target once. He did start scoring when he went out to Millwall on loan, however, so it seems that the Premiership was just a step too far for him and he is most at home in the lower leagues.

Hoskins is only 21, and a former England youth international, so even if his career has stalled somewhat, he is still very young and still has plenty of potential. What's more, he is Nottingham-born – yes, another one! He used to be on Notts County's books, and apparently also had a brief spell with Forest.

If he does well, Forest have the option of signing him permanently for a fee of £500,000. Whether a permanent deal will go ahead only if Forest manage to get promoted to the Championship, is unclear, but if his goals do finally get us back into the second tier, he will be worth his weight in gold.

Bringing Hoskins to the City Ground is a start, I suppose, but we still need more players, as our squad is still looking painfully small at the moment. But even if we had the biggest and best squad in League One, Deadwood still wouldn't know what to do with them, which is why I am refusing to build my hopes up over Hoskins being our saviour.

Pack your bags now, Colin. You're out of your depth

God, I feel so flat. It could just be because of tiredness and lack of sunshine, but I don't think I can take much more of Forest any more. Every week, you think we've reached rock bottom, but somehow the Club manages to sink even deeper, and who knows where it will all end?

I accept that even big clubs lose against little no-hopers now and again. But it's happening to Forest almost every time they go away from home now, so you can't put it down to bad luck, no matter how Deadwood tries to dress it up. He is quite possibly the worst manager we've ever had...and that is saying something. Gary Megson and Joe Kinnear may have been morons, but at least they had some tactical ability. Deadwood doesn't appear to have any whatsoever. The players must think he's an idiot. Surely they do. He plays most of them out of position, and then he blames them for the poor results. The players may partly be at fault, it's true, but if they're been fed dumb instructions all the time, it's no wonder they make mistakes.

I might have been able to accept defeat at Bournemouth had they given a good performance. But they were absolutely dreadful. I don't know what happened to our defence. They were absolutely ripped to pieces. It could quite easily have been 5-0 before half time. The back four of Luke Chambers, Kelvin Wilson, Wes Morgan, and Julian Bennett had for the first half of the season been rock solid keeping many clean sheets, but you wouldn't think it the way they played against Bournemouth. Chambers sounded like he had an awful game at right back, and Paul Smith, who recently had been in good form, was guilty of some terrible distribution.

Grant Holt also had a shocker, and he was to blame for the second goal as he lost possession in midfield, inviting Bournmouth to score.

The only player who sounded any good was Chris Cohen, but as all his team mates were rubbish, his efforts came to nothing. How he must wish he was playing for a better team.

This latest defeat has enraged the Forest fans, who were already livid at the Club's inertia in the transfer market on deadline day. The failure to bring in new players has left the squad looking very thin. At the moment there are no injuries, but that will not last, and there are several players teetering on the brink of suspension. We are currently propping up the squad with players from the academy just to make up numbers. This should not be happening at a club like Forest. We are run in such an amateurish way these days. It's completely unacceptable and insulting to the fans. Much smaller clubs are doing so much better than us. The chairman doesn't seem like he could care less. He professes to be a huge Forest fan, but if he was, surely he'd fire Deadwood? All he is bothered about is saving money, so he'll leave it to the fans to hound the manager out instead. Well, rest assured, that is just what will happen now. The internet forums are going crazy at the moment, and the away supporters' chants of 'You don't know what you're doing' are becoming louder and louder. All we need now is for the home crowd to turn on him, and then surely he will be gone.

In a way, defeat against Millwall next Saturday might actually be a 'good thing'. If we win, then the feel good factor will temporarily come back, and everything will be hunky dory (although not in my eyes), but another awful defeat might just be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It is NOT too late to bring somebody new in. OK, so automatic promotion might be beyond us, but with three months of the season left, we can salvage a rescue operation and scrape through the play-offs. Look what happened two years ago when Megson went. We narrowly missed out on a place in the top six following a brilliant honeymoon period under Charlie McParland and Frank Barlow. Whoever replaces Deadwood, will probably oversee a brief Forest resurgence – it is so common with a new manager, and this might just be enough to see Forest through the play-offs. All I do know is that if we don't get rid of Deadwood now, that there is a very strong chance that we won't even qualify for the play-offs, never mind win them.