This latest defeat leaves us two points adrift of safety with just six games to go. At least none of the other teams around us won their matches, so we haven't been cut off, and we still have a great chance of staying up, particularly as we have three games against sides fighting to stay up. But I wonder whether Forest have the bottle required for a relegation fight. They showed yesterday that they can battle hard, but the fact that they ended up with nothing when they deserved a point might make them feel defeated. They have got to believe they are capable of staying up, otherwise they may as well relegate us now and get it over with.
I felt strangely confident before the game that we would get something from the match, so I felt quite relaxed. Whenever I've had a gut feeling about Forest, it's not usually let me down, so I was rather taken aback to lose. Wolves were not much of a threat at all until Billy Davies made two substitutions, replacing Paul Anderson and Gary McSheffrey with Gareth McCleary and Nathan Tyson. As soon as they came on, Forest resorted to route one football, and suddenly Wolves were all over us and we looked a mess at the back. If Anderson was struggling with his injury, then he had to go off, but there was no need to change tactics. We could have just replaced him with McCleary, but in my opinion bringing on Tyson was a mistake, and it cost us the match. We had looked really comfortable until the substitutions, and I would certainly have taken a point, considering that we hadn't troubled their goalkeeper at all.
At least the performance – and the result – was much better than the last time we played Wolves, back in September. We were 4-0 down at half time in that game, and the Forest defence was run ragged. This time we looked a lot more confident. This was of course down to having a much better goalkeeper in Iain Turner, who we signed on loan from Everton late last week. Apart from the goal itself, he was never threatened at all, and that was down to much better defending. Our full backs did their jobs properly for once. Luke Chambers was mercifully dropped to the substitutes bench and replaced by Chris Gunter, who switched to right back, which is his best position. He did a much better job than Chambers has ever done, so providing he stays free of injury and suspension, he will probably keep his place there for the rest of the season. If one player has improved under Davies, it must be Joel Lynch at left back. I thought he was awful until a few weeks ago, but he has really stepped up his game and as long as he maintains his form, I'm happy for him to stay there.
The reason why we are in the relegation zone is down to our defence being poor all season, but if we had the same personnel as we did yesterday, I'm sure we would be alright. The failure to sign Lee Camp permanently, or at least replace him with somebody else immediately could have deep repercussions for the Club. The signing of Turner is welcome, but for me it has come rather too late. I know we are only two points adrift, but we needn't be in this position at all. We could have been virtually safe by now had Davies been allowed to bring in the players he wanted in the January transfer window. But on the back of one fobbed-off excuse or another, we ended up signing nobody while all our relegation rivals were busy strengthening their squads. Only when the fans and the press kicked up a fuss, did we finally sign some loan players, and only when Forest found themselves back in the relegation zone last week, did we finally sign a goalkeeper, which we had been crying out for all season. But that's just typical of Forest, isn't it? They are run by people with a complete lack of foresight, and if we do go down to League One again, they will only have themselves to blame. And yet, the only ones who will really be hurting will be the supporters, and they definitely don't deserve it.
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