For some reason we seem to play quite well with five men at the back away from home, and we have now gone on a five-match unbeaten run on our travels, which has included two victories, so I suppose I must grudgingly congratulate Deadwood for getting something right. Even so, the decision to play James Perch as part of a three-man central defence was a strange one, when you consider Luke Chambers could have played there with Perch at right back instead. That's just typical of Deadwood playing players out of position. I think every player apart from Paul Smith has at some point this season been asked to do a job which they are not designed for. Rumour has it that Grant Holt was being considered as an emergency goalkeeper! Thank god Blackpool have taken him off our hands for the rest of the season on loan. I'm sure he will be in great company along with his donkey friends on the beach!
But back to the game. I thought that we really played very well, and the referee's card-happy antics just made us all the more determined, and did not faze us. I can't really comment on the Perch sending-off, but from what I have read, it was a very harsh decision, and his tackle warranted only a yellow card at best, certainly not a red. I felt really sorry for him. He hasn't had much luck lately at all. He had only just broken back into the first team a few matches ago when Chambers was out injured, and then last week against Walsall, he threw up on the pitch and had to be substituted. Now, unless Forest are successful with an appeal to get his red card overturned, he now faces a three-match ban and another fight to get back in the team again.
Once we were reduced to ten men, I thought the game was only going to go one way, and when Northampton equalised from a bicycle kick to cancel out Brett Ormerod's eighth minute opener, I was resigned to defeat. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Forest roll up their sleeves and get on with it instead of just collapsing. You can say what you want about how poor we have often been this season, but there is definitely a team spirit there somewhere. It just needs to come out a little more often. Although we were all furious with the referee, in hindsight, he probably won us the match. The players might not want to play for Deadwood, but when they have been on the receiving end of unfair officiating, they don't need motivating at all. Now just imagine if we had a manager who could inspire them. I really think we would be flying, because the players proved last night that they have got what it takes if they put in maximum effort – which they all did.
Who cares if the penalty shouldn't have been given? How many times have we had decisions go against us? As they say, it all evens its self out in the end, and we totally deserved the three points for the way we battled with ten men for 70 minutes of the game against an in-form team away from home. I think this has to be the most satisfying victory we have had on our travels this season so far, and it was really important as it keeps our slim automatic promotion hopes alive. Yeovil's win over Doncaster means the gap is down to just six points again, and with back-to-back away trips to Donny and then Carlisle coming up very shortly, things could get very interesting should we beat both of them. But that's a big if. I really don't think Forest can pull off victories at both Doncaster and Carlisle, but stranger things have happened. Personally, I think it's asking rather too much of them, and I've accepted that if we are going to get promoted at all, it will be through the play-offs, although I have to say I am absolutely dreading them.
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