Still winless, but there's plenty to be pleased about

After the poor result against Watford in midweek, I am much happier after Forest earned a deserved point away from home against Queens Park Rangers. If we had been more clinical in front of goal, we would probably be celebrating our first win of the season, but I'm sure that will come sooner rather than later if we continue to play as well as we have been doing.

I'm glad to say we looked a lot better in defence after the horror show on Tuesday night. That was not a surprise seeing as we welcomed back Luke Chambers after his three-match ban, and this enabled Chris Cohen to slot back into the heart of midfield with Joe Lynch moving back to left back. The side definitely looked much better, and we looked very good going forward in the first half, and got quite a few shots on target, so we made the QPR goalkeeper work for his money.

But despite Forest being the better side, it was Rangers who took the lead when an unstoppable shot from Mikele Leigertwood crashed into the back of the net from 20 yards out, 25 minutes into the game. Rangers hadn't exactly not been in the game as they had always looked a threat going forward, but we really should have been two goals up by that stage. Fortunately, we didn't let the goal depress us too much, although we had to wait until after half time before we were rewarded for our efforts.

The equaliser came just before the hour-mark through David McGoldrick, who scored his first goal of the season, firing home from a few yards out after good work from Dele Adebola. It was the very least that we deserved, and we could have gone on to win the game, but then again so could QPR, who ensured that Lee Camp, who was celebrating his 25th birthday, would not be a mere spectator against his former side. A draw in the end was a fair result, and I would definitely have taken a point before the game even though we really needed three points to kick-start our season.

It is a little bit worrying that we still haven't won in the League yet after four games, but we have to consider the fixtures we have played so far. We have got good away points at Reading and QPR, and very narrowly lost at home to West Brom, who have had a very good start to the season. Our only bad performance came against Watford when we were forced to field a very weak defence. At Loftus Road, I thought the defence looked reasonably solid. Chambers makes a much, much better central defender than at right back. He had a very good game, hardly making a mistake at all. I think Colin Calderwood did him a great disservice playing him at right back for so long, but he didn't moan about it and just got on with the job. Maybe he can cut it at Championship level after all, but it's still very early days, and he will come up against much tougher opponents in future games. I still think we definitely need to sign another central defender, though.

We had been linked with West Ham's Calum Davenport. But a shocking incident on Friday night in my home town of Bedford has put paid to that rumour once and for all. He was stabbed in the legs following a fracas involving several people, and his mother was also attacked. His football career is now in doubt after doctors described his injuries as 'serious'. Weirdly, enough, although I think this is merely coincidental, the man arrested is from Derby. A few people have suggested that it might be a Derby fan trying to stop us signing him, but you'd have to be pretty warped to go that far in the name of football.

The solid performance at QPR has allayed our fears about the defence a bit, but whether or not that back four is capable of doing well, we still need cover for the inevitable injuries and suspensions that will be coming our way. The fact that Gareth McCleary had to come on and play at right back for the second half when Lynch went off injured with Chris Gunter taking over at left back just highlights how serious our defensive problems are. We are not going to get away with patching up our rear guard with misfits for long. If a team like Watford, who are not expected to do that well this season, could run us ragged, then we will have big problems when we meet better sides than them. There is not long to go now before the transfer window slams shut until the New Year. Are we going to see a repeat of the last transfer window back in January when we signed absolutely nobody? Let's hope that Billy Davies and the much-maligned transfer committee panel are working very hard behind the scenes because if we do strengthen the defence, I think we will really have a good team. Maybe not one that is capable of challenging for promotion, but we should certainly be good enough to avoid another frightening relegation battle. I was convinced before the season started that we would be alright, but until we bring in new defenders, all our hard work at one end of the pitch is going to be undone at the other. And that would be a crying shame.