Such stuff as dreams are made on

When I woke up this morning I wasn't sure if I had actually dreamt that we had thrashed Derby 5-2. I had a really poor night's sleep because after such an exciting occasion, it's very hard to come back down to earth, so as I write this, I might struggle to make sense.

Last season's encounter at the City Ground is memorable for the goal in the first minute that came courtesy of a stunning strike from Raddy Majewski. And Majewski was once again involved as his corner in the second minute was met with perfection by the head of Luke Chambers, who powered the ball into the back of the net for his second goal in successive games, and it gave Forest the perfect start to what was to turn out to be a highly entertaining match which saw a total of seven goals, five of them thankfully scored by us.

Although Derby hauled themselves level only 12 minutes later when Luke Moore cut through the Forest defence before unleashing a shot which just crossed the line after bouncing off the crossbar, Forest were in control for pretty much the whole half. At half time they looked to be well in control at 3-1 thanks to two headed goals from Marcus Tudgay, a former Rams player.

Unlike the second half of the match last season when Derby clawed their way back to 3-2 after trailing by three goals, Forest looked fairly comfortable defending their lead after the break. The fans really started to believe that the three points belonged to Forest when Robbie Earnshaw made it 4-1. But one or two alarms started ringing when Kris Commons, who was loudly booed throughout the game, immediately hit back with a free kick. And then Derby enjoyed their best spell of the game as they sought a way back into it.

Sensing danger, Billy Davies brought Kelvin Wilson on to shore up the defence, and thankfully Forest were able to weather the Derby pressure and they came through it unscathed. Earnshaw's second goal of the evening, in stoppage time, was a fitting way to end a magical misty night and a superb unbeaten year at the City Ground in 2010. This was the 30th League match that Forest had not tasted defeat in a row. The script probably said that Derby would be the team to end that record, so thank god nobody read it!

Icy reception for Palace as refreshed Reds return to action with a relish

Maybe Forest should have mini winter breaks more often, because if yesterday's completely one-sided performance against Crystal Palace was anything to go by, it does them a power of good.

It's just a pity that I missed what was probably their best performance of the season. I had snow problems of my own yesterday down here in Bedford. While Nottingham was getting away scot-free, we were inundated by the heaviest snowfall we've had in nearly twenty years. I was so worried about the possibility of being stuck on a train for hours that I simply could not take the risk. So I sat at home and listened on the internet. I felt really sad not to be there, but at the same time very relieved that I was at home in the warm and didn't have to catch a train afterwards.

The 3-0 scoreline didn't even come close to being an indicator of how much Forest dominated. It seemed like the only time a Palace player got a mention was when it was their goalkeeper Julian Speroni making a save.

By the time Forest got on the scoresheet in the 31st minute thanks to a Luke Chambers header, it was no exaggeration to say that they could have been three or four goals up. They were playing such good football that it was a surprise at half time that they only had a one-goal lead.

It's quite rare that Forest are able to keep up the tempo for a whole 90 minutes, but in the second half they were even better. Marcus Tudgay, who was making his first appearance since joining on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, made it 2-0 with a lob from thirty yards out just a minute after the restart, and substitute Gareth McCleary, who had only just joined the action, completed the rout five minutes from time to set Forest up for a Happy Christmas, and hopefully a very good 2011.

The players will no doubt have dedicated the victory to the memory of former reserve goalkeeper Dale Roberts, who tragically committed suicide earlier this week.

The Leicester said the better

Leicester fans will no doubt be gloating to the high heavens about getting one over their biggest rival (they're not ours), but for Forest it was just another poor performance against a side which was hovering just above the relegation zone.

True, Leicester under the new management of Sven-Göran-Eriksson had recently experienced a turnaround in their fortunes, but that was no excuse for Forest's insipid second half performance which failed to match their display in the first 45 minutes. Leicester deservedly walked off with the three points thanks to Andy King who scored an hour into the match. That proved to be the only goal, but Forest were thankful to Lee Camp for stopping the scoreline from being much more humiliating. In fact he, and Luke Chambers, who made two off-the-line clearances, were the only two players to emerge with any real credit. Whether it was down to the cold weather, a virus running through the squad, or big game nerves, Forest never really got going and didn't seem interested in the fact that three points would lift them into fifth place.

For Leicester the Forest game is their biggest of the season, but as the fans frequently reminded the home fans last night, 'we only hate Derby'. But still, even though Derby is of course the big one, it still hurts a little bit more losing to the Foxes, because they hate us so much and it's not nice losing to a team that hates you. At least we can say we deserved to lose, though. Defeat would have been much harder to take if we had warranted something from it.

Many people might have been wondering why new loan signings Marcus Tudgay and Aaron Ramsey were only named among the substitutes, but Billy Davies insisted that they needed more time training before being thrown in at the deep end. We got to see Ramsey make his first appearance as a late substitute, but he didn't really impress me much. I don't really see the point in bringing in players, no matter how good they are, just for one month so they can get some match fitness. What happens if we start playing a lot better with him in the team and then he goes back again? It will only dampen morale. On the other hand, if Ramsey can be persuaded to stay a bit longer, it might help us to reach the play-offs.

As for Tudgay, well time will tell if he turns out to be an adequate replacement for Dexter Blackstock, who as a result of suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury last week, is now facing at least a year on the sidelines. Tudgay has a similar goalscoring ratio of one in four games to Blackstock, but he has not been in the best of form this year with Sheffield Wednesday, only scoring twice in 15 games. Still, I'm not going to write him off before he's even pulled on a Forest shirt. We are going to have to hope he can come up with the goods, because the thought of Dele Adebola leading our forward line for the next five months is not a palatable one.

Blackstock blow might just force Doughty's hand

Forest's fantastic away win at leaders Cardiff City was somewhat overshadowed by the terrible injury to Dexter Blackstock in the last few minutes of the match. He now looks set to miss the rest of the season with cruciate knee ligament damage. That is the last thing we need right now with the squad already depleted by a series of niggling injuries to several key first teamers.

Blackstock had just a few minutes earlier been celebrating after scoring Forest's second goal, which doubled their lead given to them earlier by yet another super strike from Lewis McGugan. But Blackstock's joy quickly turned into despair when he went down under a seemingly innocuous challenge and it quickly transpired that he had sustained a serious injury to his right leg. He was stretchered off the pitch after receiving oxygen for the acute pain and with some six minutes of injury time declared, a shell-shocked Forest had some serious defending to do to make sure they did not throw away their win. Luckily, although Cardiff did come close to getting back into it, Forest saw the game out, but their celebrations were understandably muted at the end in light of what happened to Blackstock.

With so many important first team players not being available owing to injury or illness – Paul McKenna, Paul Anderson, Kelvin Wilson and Nathan Tyson all failed to make the trip – Forest's chances of winning at Cardiff were rated as rather slim. Cardiff, despite their early season off-field problems, had only lost three games all season, the same as Forest, and with just one away win since January, it was hard to be positive about Forest's chances, even without taking into account their missing players. But sometimes when you're up against it, you are prepared to go the extra mile, and maybe that's what helped Forest to overturn the odds. At half time they were extremely good value for their lead which McGugan gave to them with another thunderbolt, from 22 yards out. Cardiff fans must have at that point groaned 'not again' as they will have remembered a similarly good McGugan goal scored against them little over a year ago in injury time as Forest robbed them of three points in their quest for promotion.

Cardiff could have no complaints about losing their place at the top of the Championship as they were made to look very ordinary, and for once the Forest defence did most of the hard work on their own and didn't have to rely on Lee Camp to bail them out so much. The win takes Forest into sixth position in the table, and might just trigger a good run of form that will even enable a challenge for automatic promotion. But that task would be made a lot easier if only Nigel Doughty would be prepared to sanction some loan signings to prop us up until January. The injury to Blackstock surely now means his hand must be forced.

How on earth would we cope without Lee Camp?

I suppose with Forest's unbeaten home record of 27 games stretching over more than a year and QPR still being undefeated in the Championship, a draw was very much on the cards.

As nil-nil draws go, though, it could never be described as boring, at least not in the second half anyway where Lee Camp as ever was in top form to keep Forest in the game. Forest didn't actually produce a shot on target until well into the second half when lone striker Dexter Blackstock tried his luck against his former side from long range. And even though Billy Davies made a double substitution not long after bringing on both Rob Earnshaw and Dele Adebola so Forest could play with two up front, the Reds still struggled to create good chances, except for a powerful shot from Lewis McGugan which produced an equally good save from the QPR goalkeeper.

All in all, a draw was a fair result, but Forest are racking up a huge amount of debt to Camp, who match after match, turns in one fantastic performance after another. He must be Forest's most valuable asset because while the players who score the goals grab the instant headlines, it's Camp's heroics in goal which more often than not, it seems these days, are making many of the results possible. Where would we be without him?

Taking everything into account, we're not doing too badly

Despite all the uncertainty concerning Billy Davies' future at Forest, on the field things are not going too badly considering. Last night's hard-fought win against in-form Coventry was our third straight home win, and it took us to within just one point of the play-off places.

I was rather unimpressed with Davies' starting line-up which saw goal machine Lewis McGugan and Nathan Tyson deployed on the left and right wings respectively, and questioned his decision to play Rob Earnshaw in a loan striker's role, but it seemed to work rather well, perhaps because Coventry already had a game plan in mind and they were really confused by Davies' tactics. The Sky Blues, who were in fifth place before the game, did go in front, however, completely against the run of play half an hour or so into the game when one-time Red Sammy Clingan's in-swinging free-kick met the unfortunate head of Luke Chambers who put into his own net.

Happily for Chambers, parity was restored only six minutes later when Radoslaw Majewski assumed McGugan's role for scoring fantastic goals when he struck a ferocious shot from 25 yards out. Majewski hasn't really made much of an impact this season at all, so it was great to see him start to pay off the fee we paid for his permanent signing in the summer.

Coventry demonstrated why they were placed in such a lofty position in the table as they made the Forest defence, and Lee Camp work very hard for their money, before the Reds took the lead just after an hour had passed thanks to a free-kick from Chris Cohen which went straight into the net from a tight angle.

Camp pulled off a terrific last-ditch save from another Forest player Marlon King, who had been roundly booed throughout the evening, in the first minute of six minutes injury time as Forest fought desperately to cling on to the three points. Thankfully they did just that, and the win was good news amid all the press talk of Davies falling out with the Club's hierarchy.

Forest must stop reading from this tired old script

Where would Forest be right now if it wasn't for Lewis McGugan? I shudder to think. It's sad to say, but I think he is carrying the team at the moment. Apart from Lee Camp, he's the only player who has really shone this season, and that's worrying.

I don't think the bookmakers would have offered particularly generous odds on Forest drawing and McGugan scoring the goal at Watford. Although the point was a good one taken out of context, given that Watford are pushing for a play-off place, it is getting a little bit boring now, don't you think? I have the match report half-written in my head long before kick off when Forest play away these days, so I'm sure the home opposition don't have to do too much homework when it comes to assessing Forest's threat. Basically the script goes like this. Forest will outplay the home team for long periods, have a few half-decent chances to score, then against the run of play, they concede a goal owing to a defensive lapse in concentration. If they're lucky, they (or rather McGugan) will manage to score occasionally, and this will give the fans (false) hope that a victory is on the cards. But after a lot of huffing and puffing and genuinely getting nowhere the game peters out into nothing. That has been the blueprint for a Forest away performance this season.

It makes winning our home games vitally important if we want to avoid slipping into the relegation places. But the next two teams visiting the City Ground just so happen to be fifth-placed Coventry and first-placed QPR. Oh dear. If we start losing at home, I fear for us, because it will put huge pressure on us every home game to make sure we win them. In front of 20,000+ impatient Forest fans that will be a difficult task.

We'll keep getting nowt unless we change our away approach

Forest are not going to be making much progress this season if they can't sort their awful away form out. If we reach January having won only once in a year on our travels that really will be a shocking statistic.

Not that losing at Portsmouth, who have been in fine form of late, despite their recent off-field troubles, is a disgrace, but Forest really outplayed them at times, but once again came away empty-handed because they just couldn't make the most of their possession. As has been a familiar tale this season, Forest started very brightly but found themselves behind after 17 minutes when Ibrahima Sonko headed past Lee Camp from a corner. But Forest were level only ten minutes later thanks to Paul Anderson who got himself on the scoresheet for the first time this season when he powered a diving header into the net from a Lewis McGugan cross.

Forest paid the price for a poor start to the second half when Liam Lawrence turned goal-provider into goal-scorer when he restored his side's lead just after the hour, following a sustained period of Portsmouth pressure. Forest continued to exert their influence as they sought an equaliser, but their final ball eluded them. They might have played well enough, but it was Portsmouth, who little over a week ago feared they were going out of business, who got the all-important goals, and Forest only had themselves to blame.

McGugan's worth his weight in goals

Yesterday's 2-0 win over Ipswich will be remembered for one of the most astonishing goals ever seen at the City Ground. And who else but Lewis McGugan would be the man responsible for it?!

People around me were gasping when the ball crashed into the back of the net from 35 yards out. I wasn't even sure if it was an in-direct free kick or not as it was so far out. But McGugan seems to do no wrong at the moment, and this was his seventh goal in eight games – an excellent tally for a striker, let alone a midfielder. And it's not as if any of those goals have been tap-ins. All of them have been worthy of being nominated for Goal of the Month. In fact it will take something very special to beat yesterday's exquisite strike in the Goal of the Season competition. Not that I expect McGugan to win it, being a Championship footballer rather than a Premiership one.

But I wonder how long it will be before McGugan is plying his trade in the top flight. It's almost inevitable that he will attract a lot of attention when the January transfer window opens, and I'm not sure if Forest will be able to stand in his way if a big Premiership club comes knocking. But all these goals he's scored has made him a more valuable asset, and if we let him go for £5 or £6 million, we can buy a couple of very good Championship players with that. I'd sooner keep McGugan, though, because he is making watching Forest quite exciting at the moment. You just never know when he is going to pop up with a brilliant goal, but we have come to expect it every match now!

While McGugan not surprisingly got all the plaudits for his goal, we must not forget the fact that it was David McGoldrick who set us on the way to victory in the 13th minute with his first goal of the season on what was also his first start. He was named in the starting line-up by Billy Davies as Dexter Blackstock, who has been through a bit of a lean spell of late, was rested.

Forest didn't exactly look comfortable defending at the back as Ipswich posed a lot of problems for them, so they were very grateful for McGugan's unexpected goal just before half time, and although Ipswich did their best to break Forest's defence down, they just could not find a way through, and so the Reds were able to claim their second successive clean sheet in a week and more importantly back-to-back home wins, which takes them into the top half of the table.

It has been a very positive few days for Forest both on and off the pitch. Nigel Doughty's announcement on Friday that he would be making changes to the Acquisition Panel's transfer policy, thus making it easier for Davies to sign players, is a welcome one. But we will still have to wait over two months before we can make any permanent signings, so in the meantime we will have to make do with what we've got, but judging by recent results and the rediscovery of McGugan, we seem to be doing just fine for the moment.

Reds might have to be content feeding off scraps

People should be forgiven for thinking that Forest are a one-man team, such has been Lewis McGugan's recent influence. McGugan has made himself undroppable from the first team as he has contributed six goals to Forest's cause so far this season, and was once again the hero last night as his shot-cum-cross from a free kick early in the second half proved to be enough to beat managerless Middlesbrough.

The stunning strike, whether it was a fluke or not, was a rare exciting moment in a game which in the first half had really threatened to descend into a damp squib. The first 40 minutes or so were dire to put it mildly. I was bored to tears as Forest struggled to find a way through a dogged Middlesbrough midfield. The three-man central midfield combination of McGugan, Paul McKenna, and Raddy Majewski, who was handed a rare start by stand-in boss Ned Kelly, wasn't really working, and with Dexter Blackstock once again deployed in a lone striker's role, Forest were resorting to desperate long-balls. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, were having more luck at the other end and could have been one or two goals up at half time, were it not for the safe pair of hands of Lee Camp.

Thankfully the second half was a much better spectacle, and when McGugan scored five minutes in, it settled Forest and they were able to hold on to the three points for only their third win of the season. I get the feeling that victories are going to be hard to come by this season, and we're going to have to be grateful for whatever scraps we can get our hands on.

The only way is down if Forest can't find their killer touch

I am getting so fed up of writing about Forest not making the most of their chances and ending up losing points. It's happened on numerous occasions this season, and we should have done enough to win the game at Barnsley, but instead walked away empty-handed.

Billy Davies missed the game because he was suffering from a virus so assistant Ned Kelly took charge in the dugout. I don't know how much influence Davies had on the team's selection, but it was a strange one, and not exactly set up with a win in mind. After scoring a hat-trick in the reserves, maybe the inclusion of Dele Adebola in the starting line-up was justified, but why put Lewis McGugan on the wing? That made no sense at all.

Forest found themselves chasing the game after only four minutes when Nathan Doyle put Barnsley ahead from a few yards out. But Forest had plenty of chances in the first half to equalise, but the final ball was once again found wanting. The Reds' hopes of getting back in the game were dealt a hammer blow when Barnsley were awarded a penalty just before the hour mark, and former Forest player Andy Gray scored from the spot. But little over ten minutes later, another excellent goal from McGugan reduced the deficit to just one goal again and with Forest playing well Barnsley had every right to be nervous.

Unfortunately for Forest, though, thoughts of a late comeback were banished when substitute Jay Butterfield made it 3-1 with only three minutes remaining. The decision to change to a 4-3-3 formation which saw Wes Morgan bizarrely pushed forward was to prove a costly one. Had Forest stayed as they were, they might well have snatched a late point. As it was they were left to rue a sackful of missed chances and ponder on their first defeat in ten games. Now they have two home games coming up against Middlesbrough and Ipswich. We've got to be looking at a minimum of four points from those. If our home form starts to deteriorate as well, I really fear we will get sucked into a relegation scrap.

Floundering Forest are crying out for creativity

Forest headed into the international break nine games unbeaten after being held to yet another draw, this time at Doncaster Rovers. It was our seventh such result in ten games, which underlines the fact that we really could do with some more creative players to help convert some of these draws into wins.

Dexter Blackstock became the first Forest player to score at the Keepmoat Stadium in four attempts, netting his fourth goal of the season when he put the ball over the line following a goal mouth scramble. Unfortunately the lead lasted all of four minutes as Forest switched off defensively and allowed Adam Lockwood to head an equaliser unmarked at the far post following a free kick.

It was a rather dull game that never really got going until the final ten minutes when both teams upped the tempo. Donny could have snatched all three points in the dying moments, but thankfully Billy Sharp's effort went wide. Forest were once again left counting the cost of their inability to turn possession into meaningful chances. Nevertheless a point at Doncaster is not to be sniffed at, and we must be doing something right if we are unbeaten since the opening day. But it would be nice if we could actually start winning games more regularly. I get the feeling that this season is going to be largely frustrating. Boring boring Forest is what everyone will be singing soon.

Points alone won't win any prizes

I am getting bored of drawing all the time, but I was happy to take a point last night as we were lucky not to be three or four goals down at half time.

Sheffield United were the trickiest team we've come up against so far this season, which was quite surprising considering their faltering form in recent weeks. They completely overran our five-man midfield and caused our defence a huge amount of problems. Luke Chambers, who arguably had one of his best games in a Forest shirt on Saturday against Swansea, gave one of his worst performances as a centre back last night. He looked incredibly nervous as if he'd never played in that position before. I know Billy Davies is very fond of him, but I can definitely see Kelvin Wilson being recalled at Doncaster this weekend.

United took the lead just six minutes into the game thanks to a Richard Cresswell header which came as a result of an in-swinging free kick. That dented Forest's confidence somewhat as the Blades sliced their way through the midfield and came close several times to making their lead more comfortable. Forest were indebted to Lee Camp that the scoreline remained respectable at half time, and as Forest had at least looked threatening going forward there was good reason to be hopeful of a second half turnaround.

Forest continued to struggle to create clear-cut chances after the break as United remained resilient, out hustling the midfield which seemed a bit too overcrowded with three central players in there. Davies finally realised that his system was not working and brought on Dele Adebola for the remaining half hour to support Dexter Blackstock who had been really struggling as a lone striker. And less than ten minutes later the Reds found themselves back on level terms when captain Paul McKenna unleashed a fierce 25-yard shot into the back of the net. That goal really rejuvenated Forest and with the crowd behind them they suddenly looked the team more likely to go on to win the game. But their final ball was still deserting them despite the change in formation and they settled for just a point, which on reflection was a very fair result.

Hero of the hour McGugan steals the limelight again

I was feeling very depressed about Forest a few weeks ago, thinking that we were going to have an awful season amid all the furore surrounding the lack of new signings. But if recent performances are anything to go by, there's no need to hang ourselves yet.

The first 45 minutes against Swansea were probably the best I've seen them play this season. It took them only ten minutes to open the scoring, albeit from the penalty spot when Dexter Blackstock was felled by goalkeeper Dorus De Vries, and Lewis McGugan blasted the ball past him, who the home support felt was lucky to still be on the pitch, having received a yellow card instead of a red. Forest looked to add more goals as they continued to pour forward in numbers. Paul Anderson seemed to have a point to prove against his former side, whose supporters heckled him last season. He terrorised the Swansea defence constantly with his electrifying pace, and he was almost rewarded for his efforts when he saw a close-range shot parried away.

For the first 15 minutes of the second half, Swansea were dominating possession and Forest seemed a bit lost. Their slender lead was suddenly looking precarious, but Swansea were left to ponder on what might have been as Forest doubled their lead out of nothing on the stroke of the hour thanks to man of the moment, McGugan, whose remit appears to be only to score goals of the finest quality. He beat two defenders before lobbing an audacious chip past the stranded De Vries. That goal sucked all the spirit out of Swansea's attempted comeback and they were never the same after that as Forest began to look more comfortable again. Substitute Radoslaw Majewski put the result beyond reasonable doubt when he raced on to a through ball to net his first goal of the season with six minutes remaining plus stoppage time.

There was time for Swansea to nab a late consolation when the Forest defence was caught napping. Billy Davies said he was disappointed that they failed to keep a clean sheet, but the most important thing is to get in a winning habit, and with two wins in three games, we can definitely say that things are looking up for Forest. It's worth pointing out that we actually have three more points than we did at the same stage last year!

Well, at least we're not losing...

We may have had a pretty slow start to the season – we tend to every year – but it could be a lot worse. The draw at Hull was the fifth of the campaign so far, although our second half performance perhaps deserved something more. We made Hull, who were relegated from the Premiership last season, look very ordinary, and in the second 45 minutes Lee Camp was seldom tested.

Neither team impressed the Sky TV pundits in the first half. Forest really struggled to string passes together, but whatever Billy Davies said to them at the break seemed to do the trick as they were suddenly looking a whole lot more menacing up front. Both Luke Chambers and Rob Earnshaw went close with headers, and Earnshaw did in fact put the ball in the net only for it to be ruled offside. Having chalked off their first away win of the season in mid-week at Preston, Forest were very happy with a point. Their away record in 2010 has been atrocious to put it mildly, and the clean sheet was in fact their first on their travels since last Boxing Day at Watford. My worry was that our awful away form would continue into this season and we'd be relying too much on our home form to keep away from the relegation zone. I can't envisage being as good at home as we were last year, so it's just as well that we're picking up points outside Nottingham.

Hopefully we will start winning at the City Ground soon, and with two home games coming up against Swansea and Sheffield United, we have the perfect opportunity to find some consistency and make some progress up the table.

An away win?! Er, what's that again?

At flamin' last! Forest have not only won their first game of the season, but they've finally ended their long search for a victory away from home thanks to hero of the hour Lewis McGugan who scored two excellent goals in the second half as the Reds came from behind to win at Preston.

Before the match the odds that Forest would leave Deepdale with three points seemed stacked against them. They had not tasted victory on their travels since January 8th, and their last win at Preston had been some sixty years ago. People could have been forgiven for being apprehensive about the Reds' chances. But an interesting team selection, which saw Billy Davies hand McGugan a rare start as part of a five-man midfield, playing just behind lone-striker Dexter Blackstock, paid off as Forest dominated virtually the whole of the first half.

But surprisingly, although perhaps not untypically, Forest found themselves behind at half time when Preston scored out of nothing a couple of minutes before the break. Blackstock was the culprit when he squandered possession in midfield and Paul Perry fed the ball to Jon Parkin who slotted the ball past Lee Camp to give his side a very undeserved lead. Forest, though, only had themselves to blame for not making the most of their dominance.

Thankfully Forest did get their reward in the second half, and it was thanks to two individual moments of brilliance from McGugan in a 15-minute spell. The equaliser came in the 69th minute when McGugan ran past several defenders before despatching a ferocious shot from 20 yards out past the helpless Preston goalkeeper. And little over 12 minutes later McGugan capped a fine performance with an equally exquisite strike when he connected with Chris Cohen's cross to fire another long-range effort into the net to give Forest a deserved lead and set them on their way to their first win of the campaign.

Although McGugan was undoubtedly the hero of the evening, Camp's contribution should not be forgotten either. In the dying moments of the game he made a flying save to deny Preston a last-gasp equaliser. That would have been very cruel and very harmful to our morale. This victory, although very early in the season, could turn out to be hugely significant as it should boost our confidence no end and now that the search for that elusive away win has finished, it will hopefully make the players feel much more relaxed and we will continue to grow in confidence from hereon in.

Doughty's spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar

I have to come clean and admit that earlier in the week I seriously considered not going to the Millwall game. I felt so despondent about the goings-on - or should I say lack thereof – behind the scenes regarding incoming transfers that I just felt completely empty at the thought of trudging up to Nottingham for a whole day just to watch another insipid excuse for a performance.

I am so glad I changed my mind. Forest were anything but poor, and it wasn't even bad finishing that was to blame for another failed attempt at winning. We had plenty of shots on target, but the Millwall goalkeeper earned his money, and despite being far and away the better side, we had to content ourselves with a point.

Still, a point is better than none at all. Millwall had snatched a very early lead, and I thought that there was a miserable afternoon ahead of us, but I think the Forest fans played a huge part in dictating the course of events. They could easily have sat back and moaned, but from the moment that Steve Morison's fourth-minute header glanced past Lee Camp, they got right behind the team, and the players couldn't help but feel encouraged, putting in an excellent 90 minutes.

All the pre-match talk of protests against Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur seemed to have been forgotten and all the supporters were concerned about was the pursuit of three points. It would have been a huge injustice if Millwall had walked off with the win, so thank heavens that we did at least get some reward thanks to Dexter Blackstock who made up for a missed penalty earlier by heading an 80th-minute equaliser when he latched on to Chris Cohen's cross. It did look a rather soft goal from a Millwall point of view, but nobody could say that Forest didn't deserve it. It's just a shame that we couldn't go on and win the game. It would have been very nice to notch up our first victory of the season ahead of two tough away trips to Preston and Hull.

Last season it took us until the eighth game to get a win, and I fear it's going to take a similar kind of run before we get one this term. It makes me very anxious because the longer we go without victory, the more our confidence will dissipate. Morale is pretty low as it is with the lack of new faces, and with such a small squad, injuries to any of our key players could cause us big problems. I've noticed that we are picking up more injuries than last season, and that has to be down to a lack of fitness. Perhaps Billy Davies' coaching staff have not been working as hard as they, like everyone else, have felt less motivated amidst all the negativity.

Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur have never been very popular at Forest at the best of times, and this week the anti-feeling reached a tipping point. The failure to make any permanent signings before the transfer window slammed shut has infuriated the supporters. The squad is so thin it's positively anorexic. Apart from having no cover for injured players, it's not good to have a lack of competition. Players know they are going to make the line-up no matter what, so why even bother trying? And the squad is made up of players clearly not up to the standard of the Championship. Players like Matt Thornhill, Gareth McCleary and Dele Adebola should all be plying their trade in the lower Leagues.

The lack of communication from the Club has been a long-standing bugbear for Forest fans for over a decade, and we've gradually become accustomed to it. But the silence over the lack of transfer activity was a step too far, and Arthur did eventually come out of hiding and made a video statement on the official website - we didn't even have to pay to watch(!) The most interesting part was when he said that Doughty might seriously consider his future if the fans continued to hurl abuse in his direction. Was that a threat or a promise? Please say it's the latter.

Players' body language speaks volumes

Something is badly wrong behind the scenes at Forest at the moment, and it's blindly obvious that it's affecting the players' performances out on the pitch.

How we didn't lose against Norwich, I will never know. We cannot keep relying on Lee Camp to get us out of trouble. He was a very busy man yesterday as he made a number of top-class saves. How long, though, will it be before his confidence starts to wane, just as it seems to be the case with the majority of his team mates?

I'm not at all surprised that all the wild speculation flying about regarding Billy Davies' future, and reasons for lack of transfer activity is eating away at the players' confidence. Their body language is very negative and they look like they'd rather be anywhere but the City Ground. And to be honest I feel the same about Forest right now. I feel empty when I think of them. What a stark contrast to last season. I feel like I am going through the motions when I turn up to games. I just don't feel much excitement at all, so why should the players, who don't even love Forest like I do?

When Dexter Blackstock scored from a penalty yesterday to give us an undeserved lead, I uttered under my breath 'we don't deserve it'. And although I was very angry with the soft goal that was to be Norwich's equaliser less than ten minutes later, it was just reward for their dominance of the first half.

Given Forest's tendency to play well in one half of their home games only, there was hope after the break that they would be better. But if anything they were worse. The midfielders were very poor, especially Paul McKenna and Raddy Majewski, both of whom were substituted. We also suffered an injury blow when Paul Anderson limped off with suspected medial ligament damage, which could keep him sidelined for around two months. Terrific news really as we're short of wingers as it is. That news came on top of the announcement by Davies earlier that Gareth McCleary could too be out for months. It never rains, but it pours.

With transfer deadline day fast approaching on Tuesday, the injuries to Anderson and McCleary really do heap enormous pressure on the Acquisitions Panel to get a bloody move on and sign some players damn quick. If they don't, I think Forest will be staring down an abyss. I really fear being relegated. It's not that we don't have good players, it's just that they're so low on confidence, that even the good ones are not going to be performing anywhere near what they are capable of. Things have gone very stale, and before too long if something doesn't happen that will invigorate the team, we will soon be rotting at the foot of the Championship. With memories of last season still fresh in our minds, it will be a very sad sight.

If we can't afford new players, at least have the guts to tell us, Mr Doughty

Forest have made a very slow start to the season. We've played four games in League and Cup so far and have yet to taste victory. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Last year it took us until the eighth match to record a win, and once that was achieved, the confidence just grew and grew. Hopefully it won't take us as long to notch up our first three points, but if the season follows exactly the same pattern as the last, I don't think there'll be too many complaints at the end of it.

I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the performance at Reading. I really thought Forest would be lacklustre and disillusioned given all the rumours of unrest behind the scenes doing the rounds at the moment. Moreover, the late withdrawl of captain Paul McKenna, who was injured in the warm-up, was something else we could have done without. But we played really well and were it not for Reading's goalkeeper Adam Federici making a string of stupendous saves, we would have won the match. We really outplayed them at times. The three-pronged attack of Paul Anderson, Dexter Blackstock and Rob Earnshaw caused Reading all sorts of problems from the start as Forest dominated the early proceedings.

And yet, as so often happens to Forest these days, they conceded very much against the run of play when Alex Pearce gave his side an undeserved lead when he scored from close range. But Forest pressed and pressed, and really should have been on level terms when Federici somehow kept out a powerful header from Anderson. But the Reading goalkeeper turned from a hero into a villain four minutes into the second half when he made the fatal error of rolling the ball out into the path of Earnshaw, who then had the easiest tasks of poking the ball straight into an empty net. They might have relied on a huge slice of fortune to achieve their equaliser, but nobody could argue that Forest did not deserve it.

While it had been mostly all Forest in the first half, either side could have nicked the three points after the break as both goalkeepers were kept busy. In the end a point-a-piece was a very fair reflection of how the game had gone. If we play as well as that for the majority of the time, we may well be serious promotion candidates. It's really frustrating to see how close we are to becoming a really good team and day after day hear no news whatsoever from Forest of new players coming in. If we can't afford them, then fair enough, but at least have the guts to tell us please, because all this uncertainty is doing nobody any good.

Reds will struggle if transfer panel doesn't get its act together

I must admit I was not really looking forward to going back to the City Ground for the first time in three months in the wake of a very uninspiring summer in the transfer market. But as kick-off approached for our big game against Championship returnees Leeds, all those old pre-match feelings of excitement came flooding back again and I was itching to get back into my seat and hopefully witness a good Forest performance.

Well, for fifteen minutes Forest were very good indeed. The football was excellent and harked back to some of the best displays last season. When Dexter Blackstock headed us into an early lead after just nine minutes, it was a rich reward. And within a few minutes Rob Earnshaw hit the post with a shot from a tight angle. Had that gone in, such was Forest's dominance at that stage that Leeds would have felt like abandoning all hope. As it was, Forest seemed to lose confidence as Leeds began to find their way, and an unfortunate error caused by Wes Morgan when his pass was intercepted by a Leeds player led to an equaliser for the away side from Lloyd Sam who headed past Lee Camp, who until then had had hardly anything to do. Forest only really had themselves to blame for not making the most of their earlier superiority.

After a poor second half display in which Forest failed to carve out a single shot on target, I was just very relieved to come out of it with a point. We were hanging on by a thread towards the end, and I was just counting down the six minutes of injury time not even thinking about Forest possibly nicking a late winner. We were actually rather fortunate to end the game with eleven men on the pitch after Chris Gunter escaped with just a yellow card for a blatant stamp on a Leeds player's foot. That provoked a furious reaction, which led to a bit of a mêlée in the goal mouth. It could have developed into a brawl, which is not something Forest could afford to get involved in, having been punished by the FA for failing to control their players twice in the past year.

Listening to the post-match phone-in on Radio Nottingham as I walked back to our car, I had to keep reminding myself that Forest hadn't actually lost the game. Some fans sounded pretty much suicidal. It is only August, isn't it? We've only played two games, and while it is concerning what is happening behind the scenes with the lack of signings, it's not as if we need major surgery to make us competitive. We just need one or two additions – a creative midfielder and a striker probably. We are relying too much on Earnshaw and Blackstock at the moment, and there is a danger that they might get too comfortable. David McGoldrick is crocked for three months, Joe Garner has gone out on loan, Nathan Tyson keeps being used as a winger, and Dele Adebola is...well Dele Adebola. God forbid anything happens to Earnshaw or Blackstock. We're not scoring enough goals when they're in the team, let alone if one of them is missing.

The end of the transfer window is little over a fortnight away, and Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur have hinted that they will be waiting until then before bringing in any players. That is all well and good if they do manage to bring someone in, but there is a danger that they will miss out completely. Then we will be forced to patch the side up with loaned players until January. We're only allowed a maximum of four in the squad at any one time, don't forget, and with Ryan Bertrand already at the Club, that leaves us a maximum of three players. We really do need to sign somebody permanently, but after reading Doughty's programme notes, I'm not at all confident that we will be signing anyone now. Basically he said that Forest's difficulty at being able to bring in new players this summer was down to the 'current financial climate'. Well, how does that explain how other clubs, some much smaller than us, have managed to do it? Basically the much-maligned Acquisitions Panel didn't try hard enough. Their bids for Peter Whittingham have been quite rightly labelled as 'derisory' by Cardiff. I sometimes think Forest actually don't want to get promoted the way they go so half-heartedly about their business.

The League Cup needs melting down, and I'm not just saying that because we're out!

I can't pretend that I felt gutted about last night's defeat at League Two side Bradford in the Carling Cup. To sum up my feelings if losing to Derby feels like being punched in the stomach, this didn't even feel so bad as pricking my finger. They should rename this competition the Couldn't-give-a-damn Cup, because that's how I now feel about it, and I know it's the opinion of many of the game's top managers.

While there will be some Forest fans scratching their heads over the team's inability to beat a side two divisions below them, I am not very surprised at the result. In fact the only unpredictable thing about last night was that the Reds even bothered to put in any effort at all. With so many key players missing owing to international duty, Billy Davies struggled to put a decent side out, so there were recalls for seemingly forgotten men Joel Lynch and Matt Thornhill.

Nathan Tyson was given a rare chance up front on his own as Paul Anderson and Gareth McCleary were handed their first starts of the season occupying the left and right wings respectively. Bradford were hardly in the game at all in the first half as Forest dominated proceedings. It was therefore of little surprise when Thornhill became the first player to score for Forest this season when he converted Anderson's cross in the 36th minute.

The Reds did more than enough to bury Bradford once and for all, but a sloppy mistake from Luke Chambers at the back let them back into it early in the second half, and despite their best efforts, Forest just could not find a way past the Bradford goalkeeper, who was in inspired form, denying Chambers the opportunity to atone for his earlier error.

By the time the match went into extra time, Forest looked like they had run out of ideas, and Bradford took the lead ten minutes into the first period thanks in part to an ex-Notts County player, Simon Ramsden, whose free-kick was spilled and James Hanson bundled the ball home. That proved to be the winner and sent Forest out of the competition at the first hurdle. It's all a far cry from two decades ago when Forest used to take it very seriously, winning it four times in little over a decade between 1978 and 1990, but it's a different climate now. The Championship is where it's at, and that's all we have to concentrate on between now and January. Hopefully the result at Bradford was not a sign of things to come in the League, because if it is, we really do have big problems.

A new season, but it's the same old story for Forest on their travels

So here we go again, the start of another long season, which for Forest has started pretty much in the same way they ended the last one – still with no idea how to win away from home.

To be fair, Forest did play very well at Burnley, and it was a vast improvement on our last trip there two seasons ago when we were thrashed 5-0. From what I saw of the live stream on the internet, we looked the better side in terms of possession. Burnley, just relegated from the Premiership after one season, looked fairly ordinary, but a goal on the stroke of half time proved to be enough for them as Forest's final ball was dreadful, and I don't recall them having one shot on target. Our midfield was very lacking in creativity and dynamism. With the defensive Paul McKenna and Guy Moussi in the middle, that wasn't much of a surprise. Billy Davies left Raddy Majewski on the bench and his persistence of playing Nathan Tyson on the left wing will never get us anywhere. This time last year Tyson was the Trent End darling following his now infamous corner flag heroics after the win over Derby, but now he seems to have taken on the vacant scapegoat role following James Perch's surprise departure to Newcastle. I still think he has something to offer as a centre forward, but as a winger definitely not.

We have been trying to address the left winger problem with financially troubled Cardiff's Peter Whittingham being a subject of a couple of bids which have been swiftly rejected. According to Mark Arthur, Whittingham, along with Swansea's Darren Pratley wants to join Forest, although Arthur might well have unintentionally put the kibosh on both deals now as Cardiff and Swansea are said to be furious that Arthur had been 'tapping up' their players. If the clubs are now even more unwilling to sell because of Arthur's comments, Forest fans are going to be absolutely livid. Arthur has never been very popular anyway, so if the deals for Whittingham and Pratley fall through, a lot of vitriol is going to be heading firmly in his direction.

Forest's poor showing in the transfer market this summer has dampened the fans' spirits, and it's no secret that the players too have being feeling very disillusioned about the lack of new faces. One might think that they would be happy about the lack of competition for their places, but that does not seem to be the case. The players feel that being forced to fight for their shirt turns them into better players. Competition is the key to a successful team because everybody is busting a gut to get into the side, rather than just be happy to turn up, put in a lacklustre performance and take home a hefty pay packet, as we have suspected has been the motivation of several of our less popular players over the years. Naming no names, of course.

At least we have sorted out the long-standing left back problem anyway. I won't pretend that I know anything about Ryan Bertrand, but I gather he's being talked up as being the 'next Ashley Cole'. We've got him for six months, so that's something, although I would have liked to have signed someone permanently. We had been trying to bring Nicky Shorey back, but his reluctance to drop down from the Premiership proved to be a stumbling block. Bertrand comes with a good Championship pedigree, having spent last season on loan at Reading, and the season before that at Norwich. He had an accomplished debut on Saturday, so I'm sure he'll do a really good job for us while he is here.

A painful but necessary defeat

You didn't honestly believe Forest were going to get to Wembley, did you? Okay, so we hadn't lost at the City Ground since September, and hadn't conceded a goal there in eight matches, but when it comes to play-off semi-finals Forest just never deliver, so although the second half collapse against Blackpool felt shocking, it's not really a surprise.

I genuinely did want us to go through to Wembley, yes, but I'm secretly feeling relieved more than anything to be absolutely truthful. It was a very painful way to lose, but it would have been a lot harder to come to terms with if it happened at Wembley. We've now got experience of three play-off semi-final failures in the space of seven years, so we as a fan base have become used to dealing with it. But if you think I felt heartbroken last night, you would be quite wrong. 'Majorly disappointed' would best sum up my feelings. Usually I can't abide the players saying they are disappointed with a result when they should be saying they are gutted or devastated. But last night's defeat was nowhere near as soul-destroying as the Yeovil semi-final three years ago. Back then I finished the match unable to look up as the players trudged off the pitch in tears. I couldn't move out of my seat as I sat there crying my eyes out as my dad and brothers stood around trying in vain to console me. This time around, although I did come close to shedding tears when Forest found themselves chasing three goals, I made sure I stood with my scarf aloft my head as the players did a walk around at the end. Obviously they did not deserve to be applauded for their performance on the night, but the season overall has defied all our expectations, so for that the squad did deserve recognition. It made me feel so much better when right at the end of the game the Forest fans who had not already left the ground gave the dejected players a big round of applause. I was very concerned that people would be feeling very sorry for themselves and that the players would leave the field in disgrace. That would have been a very sad conclusion to a brilliant season, so I am so glad the fans had the good grace to do that, because it not only made ourselves feel better, but the players, too. Some of them had sunk to the ground with their heads bowed after the game, which made for a depressing sight, but I think they will realise it's probably best that we're still in the Championship because it will mean the squad will be largely the same next season with one or two additions.

Whoever we do sign, the absolute top priority is a left back. It's ridiculous that we've gone throughout the whole season not having a recognised one with the exception of Nicky Shorey who was with us on loan for a while. Had we persuaded Shorey to stay on, I think we might well have gone on to make automatic promotion. Instead, left back has been filled by a number of players since Shorey's departure, none of whom are comfortable playing there. Chris Cohen, Chris Gunter, Luke Chambers, and most recently James Perch have all been deployed in the position at some stage. It was the lack of a good quality left back that I think was our downfall last night as the defence completely fell apart in the second half as a four-goal blast from Blackpool, three of which came from DJ Campbell, put paid to Forest's Wembley hopes once and for all.

It had all started so promisingly when Robbie Earnshaw, who earned a recall to the side, gave Forest an early lead in the seventh minute. The roof virtually came off the City Ground. At half time, following a good first 45-minute display, the Forest fans had plenty of reasons to be hopeful of victory. But terrible defensive errors after the break saw Blackpool inflict a humiliating defeat on Forest. They went back in front on aggregate ten minutes into the second half when Campbell slotted past Lee Camp, who perhaps shouldn't have come out of his goal to claim the ball. But within ten minutes Forest were on level terms again when Earnshaw scored from six yards out for his second goal of the night. Cue very loud chants of 'Robbie Earnshaw is a red' from three quarters of the stadium. That must have left a lump in his throat, but his brace turned out to mean nothing in the end as Blackpool were out to spoil the party, although they were given a considerable helping hand by the Forest team, who defended woefully. Substitute Stephen Dobbie's deflected long-range shot made it 3-2 on aggregate to Blackpool with 18 minutes to go, and within four minutes a horrible mistake by Perch in a dangerous area allowed Campbell to score a second, and leave Forest needing two goals to draw level. With ten minutes plus injury time remaining, that might have been achievable, but in the 80th minute Campbell completed his hat-trick and left Forest's Wembley dream in tatters. A goal in injury time made the scoreline on the night a little bit more respectable when substitute Dele Adebola scored from close range, but Forest had to concede that over the two legs they had been second best and Blackpool deserved to go through. They may have finished sixth, three places lower than Forest, but having beaten us four times this season, we cannot claim to be a better side then them. Last night's performance showed that we have got a lot of work to do before we can genuinely say we're worthy of Premiership football. Good luck to Blackpool, though. If they go up, they're going to need it. As for Forest, we're probably better off out of it.

Advantage Blackpool, but home form makes us favourites for Wembley

I had a feeling that if Forest could get away with a one-goal deficit in the first leg at Blackpool then they would have a great chance of emerging the winners on aggregate back at the City Ground.

I don't want to tempt fate too much (God knows we were all guilty of that three years ago against Yeovil), but I am very confident that we will do enough on Tuesday night to win and at least take the game into extra time if need be. We may have lost to Blackpool three times this season already, but let's not forget that their victory over us at home was right at the start of the season when we hadn't hit form yet. And besides, our team that day was a lot different to how it is now. Rob Earnshaw won't be up front all on his own for one thing, and Paul Anderson, who was left on the subs bench that day, should be occupying one of the wings. He terrorised Blackpool yesterday with his pace, so hopefully will be a key player for us in the second leg. There will be no point in man-marking him, because we have many other sources of danger in our team, so we will be very hard to stop. Blackpool could put ten men behind the ball, but they will still have a difficult job, so I think they are going to go all out on the attack and try and get a second goal. This should help us as they will leave themselves open at the back. Whatever happens, it's going to be a very exciting and nervy evening, but it won't be anywhere near as devastating as that terrible night in 2007 against Yeovil. We simply had to get out of League One that season, but I don't think many fans would be too upset once the dust has settled on another play-off defeat that we are still in the Championship, considering how far we've come in a year.

It was a tremendous boost to hear that Paul McKenna was back in the starting line-up after seemingly being ruled out for the rest of the season. There had been some murmurs that he would have an outside chance of making it. To be honest, I think he was probably available for the last couple of weeks, but Billy Davies sensibly decided to give him extra time to recover, and perhaps fool Forest's potential play-off opponents into thinking he wouldn't be playing. It was a huge lift for the Club at the end of a pretty good week that saw us clinch the permanent £1.5 million signing of Radoslaw Majewski, and Chris Cohen's quick recovery from a bout of Mumps, which had threatened to rule him out of the play-offs altogether, was also a shot in the arm.

Cohen must have been very worried that he would miss out on all the excitement when he fell ill, so it's no wonder he looked so delighted when he gave Forest an early lead with a long-range pile driver from the edge of the penalty area. It was a goal worthy of the good-quality passing football that Forest were playing, but their lead did not last long as Blackpool were back on level terms less than 15 minutes later when Kevin Southern netted from close range. It was a really entertaining first 45 minutes with Forest having the better chances. Dexter Blackstock and Wes Morgan both went extremely close to restoring the lead, while Lee Camp had relatively little to do at the other end.

While Blackpool failed to trouble Camp much after the break, sadly Forest offered little themselves. Perhaps Davies was content to play for a draw rather than go for goals, but it was a decision that may come back to haunt him as Forest had really looked very threatening before the break and could easily have gone on to score a few goals in the second half and set themselves up as red-hot favourites to reach Wembley. But James Perch, who it's got to be said had a very shaky game at right back, gave away a penalty just before the hour-mark, and Charlie Adam, a constant thorn in Forest's side all season, made it 2-1 from the penalty spot. The closest Forest came to equalising was when Cohen produced an excellent save from the Blackpool goalkeeper with another long-range shot in the dying moments of injury time. What a hero he would have been had it gone in, and considering his ill-health leading up to the game, it would have been some story.

Still, the result could have been a lot, lot worse. I think Davies will be much happier than Ian Holloway with the scoreline because really to have the upper hand in this two-legged tie Blackpool could have done with a two-goal cushion. It really is all to play for on Tuesday night. I actually think that the fact that we are chasing the game this time around could work in our favour. Against Yeovil, even before the game, the Forest players were accused of believing their place at Wembley had already been assured, and their shocking performance certainly backed up those claims. They will not be complacent this time around and know that they are going to have to be at their very best to go through.

Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, this season has been lovely jubbly!

At last the play-off final places have been sorted out, and Forest will be meeting Blackpool in the semi-finals with the first leg to be played next Saturday lunchtime. Bring them on!

As I've been saying throughout the season, I am not bothered if we go up or not. I personally feel right at home in the Championship and will feel sad to leave it, and if we do go up, I am not sure I will feel as high as a kite like I did two years ago when we got out of League One on the final day. I really want to feel ecstatic, and maybe I will be swept up in the euphoria on the day, but at the moment I just feel cold when I think of the Premiership. I will be very sad to see this wonderful squad of ours broken up after only a season. Only two or three of them are capable of making it in the top flight, so we would need major surgery just to make us competitive. We will be everybody's favourites to come straight back down, and we could end up being as bad as Derby were, or worse...perish the thought. It might be exciting at first, but after a while when we've gone something like 15 games without a win, it will be a chore going to games with the feeling that we are half-beaten before we've even kicked a ball. Do you really want ten months of that? I know I don't.

Blackpool are the only team who have beaten us both home and away this season so they may feel that gives them a psychological advantage, while Forest will be seeing it as a revenge mission. Forest only visited Blackpool two weeks ago, where we lost lost 3-1. Many of our first team players were rested that day, mind you, so it's difficult to gauge anything from it. But with Forest having not won away in ten games, Blackpool will have every right to feel confident in the first leg. They will be desperate to get at least a two-goal cushion because they would then come up against Forest's formidable home record of 18 wins in 20 games. Incidentally the last time Forest were beaten in the League at the City Ground was against...yes, you guessed it, Blackpool. We suffered a 1-0 defeat against them back in September, but it was a game we didn't deserve to lose, even if our team line-up that day was a little bit suspect. I remember being angry with Davies for playing the diminutive Robbie Earnshaw up on his own that day. No wonder we did everything but score!

I'm so glad that we finished third in the table, because we have had a great season and deserve to be rewarded for it as much as possible. It was a shame that we couldn't hold on to our 2-0 lead at Scunthorpe. We looked completely in control at half time after goals from Joe Garner and George Boyd (remember him?), but Scunny got themselves back into it early in the second half, and a ghastly mistake by substitute Gareth McCleary three minutes from the end gifted the home side an equaliser and denied Forest victory on the last day of the season. Not that the result really mattered as Forest still finished third as Cardiff, needing a win to overhaul us, lost at Derby. The really interesting games were elsewhere at Swansea and Blackpool, where victory for either could have seen them earn the final play-off place, but Blackpool were the ones who qualified even though they only managed to draw against Bristol City as Swansea failed to beat Doncaster. I'm just relieved we have managed to avoid Leicester. If we are to lose the play-off semi-finals, then I would have hated it to have been against them. We'd already endured a heavy thrashing at the Walkers' Stadium a couple of months ago, and the thought of them doing the same in the first leg filled me with dread. It would have been humiliating against a team that regards us as their biggest rivals. But if we meet them at Wembley, I think it would be a tight game. A Forest-Leicester final would be the dream scenario from a media point of view. I have had a gut feeling we would be meeting Leicester again this season for a long time, so I really believe it is going to happen! I may not necessarily want to get promoted, but I really do want to visit Wembley with Forest. I was only ten and just a teletext fan when Forest treated it like their second home, and it would make up for us missing out so cruelly three years ago.

Reds ensure home advantage in play-offs with easy win

Forest ended their home programme in fitting style with an easy 3-0 win over relegated Plymouth. The victory ensures that the Reds will play the second leg of the play-offs at the City Ground. That should give Forest considerable advantage considering how dominant they have been at home this season.

Most of the first teamers who were rested against Blackpool were recalled to the starting line-up, which was something of a surprise as Billy Davies had hinted that he would be giving some of the fringe players another run-out. But with the play-off semi-finals looming ever closer, Davies was prepared to take the risk with injuries and suspensions by playing a near full-strength team. The 22,000+ Forest fans wouldn't have been best pleased to pay good money to watch useless long balls being lumped up the field to Dele Adebola after all.

Before the game, Lee Camp, who has had a magnificent season, was awarded the Player of the Year title. While it has been a tremendous team effort this season to earn a play-off place, Camp's heroics in goal, particularly away from home when Forest were on that long unbeaten run before Christmas, earned us a lot of points, which might not have been possible without him. I really hope that we can hold on to him next season if we don't get promoted, because I reckon there will be a few Premiership clubs enquiring about him in the summer. He is one of the few players that I think could make the step up.

Forest played some excellent football in the first half and took the lead nearly twenty minutes in when a neat ball from Radoslaw Majewski sent Rob Earnshaw clear through on goal before firing past the goalkeeper to score his 15th goal of the campaign. Their lead was doubled 15 minutes later when Bonza N'Gala scored an own goal, which may have deflected off Dexter Blackstock. Although Camp did have to make one or two saves, Forest looked very comfortable at half-time, and in the second half didn't seem in too much of a hurry to add to their lead. The crowd decided to make their own entertainment by instigating a Mexican wave. This created a carnival atmosphere, which with the backdrop of warm sunshine, made for an enjoyable day out. But with what was virtually the last kick of the game Forest did get themselves another goal when Paul Anderson, who had earlier come on as a substitute, exchanged passes with Lewis McGugan to score from a few yards out. It was a nice way for Forest to end their season at home by getting a goal right at the end. I just knew it was going to happen!

At the end of the match the entire squad did their annual lap of honour, which in recent seasons has been a bit of a misnomer, but this time around, even wben nothing has actually been won – yet – the players, Davies and his staff thoroughly deserve a huge round of applause for making Forest such a pleasure to watch again, which has rarely been the case in the 21st century.

Sea air fails to lift Reds' spirits as Blackpool do the double

When you think about it, one point from 27 away from home is absolutely pathetic. It's hard to believe that until the end of January we had the best away record in the whole country.

Blackpool needed the points a lot more than us as they were chasing a play-off place, and if results went our way we could guarantee ourselves a third-place finish in the Championship. But Billy Davies decided that this was an ideal opportunity to give his key players a much needed rest with the play-off semi-finals just around the corner. Even Chris Gunter, who had until Saturday played every minute of Championship football, was left on the bench, which must have annoyed him as he was so close to completing a full season. His omission from the starting line-up gave forgotten man Joel Lynch a rare chance to impress at left back after spending most of the season out injured. There were also recalls for Dele Adebola, David McGoldrick and Joe Garner, who for so long has found himself playing out on the right wing when called upon and was given a chance in his more accustomed role of centre forward.

Blackpool were second best until they were awarded a dubious penalty half an hour into the game. Charlie Adam made it an undeserved 1-0 to the home side from the spot after David McGoldrick was adjudged to have tripped Seamus Coleman. Not for the first time were Forest forced to pay for their inability to turn their possession into shots on target. And in the second half, despite the Reds doing most of the pressing in the early stages, it was Blackpool who scored the next goal when DJ Campbell struck the ball from ten yards out, and it seemed that Forest were heading for yet another away defeat.

The introduction of substitutes Dexter Blackstock and Rob Earnshaw on the stroke of the hour gave Forest some much-needed firepower, and within five minutes, the Reds were back in the game when Garner scored his first goal in God-knows-how-long when he headed home from a Chris Cohen free-kick. But even though Forest looked the much more likely team to score, Blackpool killed the game off with seven minutes remaining with a second goal from DJ Campbell to make it 3-1, and set the Tangerines on their way to their second victory over Forest this season. Once again, despite their hard work, Forest had to face the long journey back to Nottingham with nothing to show for it.

With almost-relegated Plymouth being the next visitors to the City Ground, Forest will be hopeful that they can secure at least third or fourth spot and therefore have the home leg of the play-offs after the away tie. With their recent away record being so poor, it's probably going to be the key between us reaching Wembley or not.

Job done. Forest qualify for the play-offs

Forest confirmed their place in the play-offs with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over former fans' favourite Roy Keane's Ipswich at the City Ground.

Ipswich, who not so long ago were embroiled in a relegation fight, but have since clawed their way to mid-table safety, came to Nottingham in good form, having won at Derby on Bank Holiday Monday. And they certainly began the game in a confident manner, and posed the Forest defence a number of problems with Lee Camp having to be very alert between the posts. Forest, too, got forward a lot and applied a lot of pressure, earning a succession of corners, but unlike Camp, the Ipswich goalkeeper had very little to do in the first half.

Ipswich really deserved to be at least one goal up at the break, but as things transpired in the second half, they were left to ponder what might have been, as Forest started the second half in the best possible fashion by taking the lead very early on, and just got stronger and stronger after that. Rob Earnshaw did all the hard work with a free-kick, which took a lucky deflection off Luke Chambers on its way into the net. Chambers was credited with the goal, but Earnie quite rightly deserved the plaudits. That goal really spurred Forest on, and just over ten minutes later Guy Moussi tapped in from close range following an excellent run by Chris Gunter to score his second goal in a week. The Reds really looked comfortable now with Ipswich appearing to have given up, and as if there was any doubt at all that the points belonged to Forest, Earnshaw made sure that his name did actually get on the scoresheet when he put Forest in cruise control with a close-range effort with quarter of an hour remaining. With the news that West Brom had won at Doncaster and therefore booked their place in the Premiership, Forest's ghostly faint hopes of stealing the second automatic promotion spot were ended, but the win and favourable results elsewhere mean that we will definitely be in the play-offs, as if there was any doubt about that. When you consider that a exactly a year ago this weekend Dexter Blackstock's last-minute winner against Bristol City saw us climb out of the relegation zone, you have to say what a fantastic achievement. Whatever happens from hereon in, Forest can be very proud of themselves.

Thirteenth-game unlucky as winning home run comes to end

It's a rather strange feeling not winning a home game, having won our last 12, but I guess it was always going to come to an end sometime, and earning a point against an in-form Cardiff City is nothing to sniff at.

It would have been nice to break the record and win 13 in a row, but I'm sure that Billy Davies is more than happy to share it with Cloughie. Let's just hope that Forest won't suddenly crumble at home like they did away when they lost their 19-match unbeaten record.

To be honest, I'm just relieved to get a point out of it, because for a long time it looked like Cardiff were going to make mince meat out of us. They were dominating in the early part of the first half and Forest were playing like an away side. Thankfully we did get more and more into the game, though, and by the latter stages of the match Forest were looking the more likely to score. Our final ball was not good, though, with Rob Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock looking out of sorts. Both of them had one-on-one chances to score, which when in form, they would probably have buried.

It was good to get yet another clean sheet at home. I can't remember when we last let in a goal at the City Ground. It certainly bodes well for the play-offs if we can take this impressive form into the semi-finals in a month's time. Whoever we play, I don't see us having an easy time of it, though. If we are playing Leicester, I can't see us thrashing them like we did back in December. And if our opponents are Swansea or Cardiff, we already know that we are in for a tough home leg against them. The key will be our result in the away leg. We might be able to get away with a 1-0 defeat, but if we lose two-or three-nil, I would say that's probably game over, because I can't see us overcoming that in the second leg. In the meantime, we have four Championship games left, and we can use them to discover our form in front of goal in readiness for the more important matches in mid-May.

Forest finally get some luck away as play-offs edge closer

I'm so glad that Forest have ended that horrible losing streak away from home. It was in danger of becoming a real problem for us, so psychologically it was very important to put a halt to the run of defeats with the play-off semi-finals coming up.

We may be mathematically still capable of catching West Brom, but that would require Brom to lose four of their five games and Forest would probably need to win all five of theirs. It's just not going to happen. Brom had their sticky patch of form earlier this year, but they overcame it. Forest had the chance to capitalise on it, but they didn't take it, and ever since our superb victory at the Hawthorns we have got progressively weaker away, while the Baggies have got stronger. They deserve to go up on that basis, and we can have no right to grumble about it. Teams that go up automatically should have a good record away, and while that was the case up until the Derby game at the end of January, a team that loses seven away matches on the bounce has no right to call themselves Premiership quality.

With a place in the play-offs all but assured, and two games in three days, it was not much of a surprise to see some of the fringe players in the starting line-up. There were recalls for Luke Chambers at right back, and former Bristol City striker Dele Adebola, and David McGoldrick up front. Two of the changes were enforced as Rob Earnshaw and Paul Anderson were nursing injuries. The absence of Anderson gave George Boyd, who failed to even make the squad at Newcastle, a chance to impress on the left wing.

I was thinking 'here we go again' when Bristol City took the lead after just two minutes through a Liam Fontaine thunderbolt which caught Lee Camp completely off guard. But to Forest's credit, they dug in and were rewarded for their efforts half an hour into the game when Guy Moussi equalised with an exquisite 25-yard strike.

Substitutes Nathan Tyson and Joe Garner, who was given a rare opportunity up front, went close to putting Forest in front in the second half. And when Bristol City, who had used all three of their substitutes, were forced to play their statuesque 6ft 8 striker Stefan Mairerhofer in goal for the last five minutes following injury to their goalkeeper, victory seemed to be Forest's for the taking. But typically the Reds didn't even test him once, and seemed happy to settle for a point.

The last five games will be merely practise for the play-offs, so results are no longer that important as long as we enter the semi-finals in a confident frame of mind. We will probably finish third or fourth so the second leg will be at the City Ground, which in theory should give us advantage. I say in theory, because we all remember (although how we wish we could forget) the terrible capitulation against Yeovil three years ago when we thought we had done all the hard work in the first leg...

A performance to be proud of, despite defeat

If we forget the fact that last night's defeat at Premiership-bound Newcastle was our seventh straight loss away from home, we should be really proud of Forest's performance. It took Newcastle seventy minutes before they breached our defence, and we were undone by a very good goal, too. That's why I don't feel in the least bit depressed about losing, because I expected a right good thrashing if I'm being honest.

Billy Davies' decision to revert to the 4-5-1 formation that had been so successful during our long unbeaten spell away seemed to work wonders as we looked much more like the side that looked a good bet for automatic promotion a few months ago. We defended brilliantly, particularly James Perch at right back, who put in one fantastic challenge after another. Lee Camp was also once again in fine form as Forest did everything they could to stop Newcastle from scoring. At least we managed to last until half time having not conceded a goal, which has been a rare occurrence for visiting opposition to St James' Park this season.

Forest have often been guilty of only showing up in one half, but they were just as good after the break and they continued to frustrate the Magpies. We clearly hadn't come for a point, either, as we looked very threatening on the counter attack and played some good passing football. Our finishing was very poor, though, and I don't remember us seriously testing the Newcastle goalkeeper once. The closest we came was when a below-par Dexter Blackstock badly mis-hit a shot in the first half.

Newcastle finally took the lead when substitute Shola Ameobi, who had replaced the injured Andy Caroll, who Forest probably were glad to see the back of, given his recent red hot goalscoring spell, scored a goal which would not look out of place in the Premiership. It had come just after Radoslaw Majewski had lost possession of the ball in midfield, but Forest could have no arguments about the quality of Ameobi's finish.

I don't know whether it was a coincidence, but as soon as Davies made his first substitution, bringing on Gareth McCleary for Nathan Tyson, Newcastle scored. It seems to have happened a lot this season. We make a change, then the opposition score. It seems to unsettle us. It's true Tyson had to go off sooner or later because he was struggling with a slight injury, but Davies seems to be obsessed with bringing on three substitutes every game no matter what. I can only think of one match this season where only two substitutes were used, and that was only because it was injury time and we ran out of time. I could see Dele Adebola ready to come on. I can imagine that Davies felt rather annoyed that his pattern had been ruined! I was none too impressed with his changes last night. All McCleary did was give away silly free kicks, and I really didn't see the point of swapping Blackstock for David McGoldrick. Rob Earnshaw's record of two goals away from home all season didn't exactly fill me with much confidence, either.

These three substitutions really sucked the life out of us, instead of making us fresh. We may as well have stuck with the same eleven players, even if they were at risk of tiring themselves out. Newcastle had no need to worry when four minutes of injury time were declared as Forest had long given up the ghost. A second goal in the first minute of stoppage time made absolutely certain of the points, and almost certainly Newcastle's Premiership place next season. As for Forest, if we are to join them, barring a massive reversal of fortune in our away form and West Brom's results over the next six games, we'll have to do it the hard way through the play-offs.

Home is where the Hart is as Forest win yet again

Paul Hart's first return to the City Ground since his acrimonious departure six years ago ended unhappily as Forest beat ten-man Crystal Palace to record their 12th straight home win, equalling the club record set by Brian Clough 30 years ago.

In Hart's final season with the Club he was not a popular man as most supporters clamoured for his sacking as Forest were plunging dangerously close towards relegation into the third tier. But judging by the rapturous reception he got as A-Block chanted 'We love you Harty we do' which then prompted the rest of the home support to join in the applause, it seems that the majority of fans would rather remember him for those wonderful first two years when he brought through so many talented youth players into the first team. We reached the play-off semi-finals in his second year, but after losing to Sheffield United, Forest had a summer to forget as the silver was sold off and a bewildered Hart made some panic buys in the transfer market, and we ended up with a team full of past-it rejects. Hart was ultimately made to pay the price for the board's failings and he was dismissed half way through the following season. Forest survived relegation by the skin of their teeth thanks to the intervention of Joe Kinnear, but it turned out to be merely a stay of execution, and the following year Gary Megson couldn't prevent the inevitable and we were sent tumbling into League One.

Since then, a lot of water has passed under Trent Bridge of course, and looking back, Hart did more good than harm for the Club. In fact if it wasn't for his developing players like Michael Dawson, Andy Reid, and Jermaine Jenas we might not even be here, as it was their multi-million pound sales that staved off administration. Hart, like so many of the other managers who have occupied the hot seat since Cloughie's retirement, was made a scapegoat for the board's incompetence, so I am glad that he got such a warm welcome back.

I was surprised that George Boyd was not included in the starting line-up as Billy Davies decided to keep faith with the side that beat Peterborough, except for an enforced change in defence that saw Luke Chambers come in for the injured James Perch. Chambers swapped places with Chris Gunter so he could play at right back with Gunter moving to the left. This made more sense as although Chambers is poor as a right back, at least he's had plenty of practice there. I would much rather we just signed a proper left back, though. I mean how hard can it be? We shouldn't be having to mess around playing midfielders and central defenders in this position. The loan window closes on Thursday, so let's hope that Davies is working extremely hard to bring somebody in, because it could make all the difference in the play-offs, if that is we don't by some miracle scrape automatic promotion.

It took Forest a whole half of football before they finally broke the deadlock, and what a goal it was...from Wes Morgan of all people. He fired in a 25-yard piledriver, a far cry from the usual close-range headers he has scored from in the past. I had wondered if Forest were ever going to score as Rob Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock had been very quiet, and Forest were resorting to a lot of long-range efforts, as exemplified by Morgan's stunning strike.

We played a lot better football in the second half, and when Palace had Matt Lawrence shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Earnshaw 50 minutes in, Forest's task was made considerably easier. Eight minutes from time substitute Nathan Tyson had only been on the pitch two minutes when he was fed the ball by Paul Anderson after a really good run on the counter attack, and Tyson stabbed the ball home from close range to make it a comfortable 2-0 and ease the Forest fans' nerves as the clock ticked down. It was a rare opportunity for Tyson to play as a striker, and this was his first goal since his strike against Derby back in August. For so long he has been used as a left winger, but as a centre forward he can be lethal on a good day. His goal will give Davies food for thought and maybe he will finally be persuaded to stop persisting with the useless over-the-hill lump that is Dele Adebola.

Restive Reds make heavy weather of beating Boro

I wasn't foolish enough to believe that Forest only had to turn up yesterday to bag the three points. Even though Peterborough look down and out and destined for League One, I knew that they would want to give a good account of themselves, and they certainly did that. The fact that Lee Camp was made Man of the Match says it all.

We could hardly use the wet weather as an excuse, because that didn't stop Peterborough from playing good football. Our half time lead given to us by a Rob Earnshaw tap-in after only thirteen minutes rather flattered us to be honest. Our defence had looked very shaky, and Camp, so often reduced to being a mere spectator at the City Ground for long periods of games this season, was certainly made to earn his money on this occasion. We weren't helped when James Perch was forced to leave the action just twenty minutes into the game when he picked up an injury. He was replaced by Luke Chambers, who all things considered, did a reasonable job playing in an unaccustomed position at left back.

It's perhaps not much of a surprise that Peterborough looked a far cry from a team all but relegated, because with the pressure off them they could just enjoy playing football. Forest on the other hand looked very nervy at the back, and by the end of the match they were very grateful to Camp, who once again did his best to live up to his 'England's number one' tag bestowed on him by the fans. It was a bit embarrassing for the rest of the players that the goalkeeper won Man of the Match against the rock bottom side, but maybe you get these kind of results at this stage of the season, so perhaps we shouldn't be too harsh, especially when Forest have endured a difficult week that saw them lose two away games. The Reds have not been playing well lately at all and we have seen our automatic promotion chances all but disappear. We still remain eight points adrift despite the win as West Brom won their home game against Preston. But there are still eight games left and 24 points to play for, so it's not out of the question that we can't overhaul them still. If anyone wants any inspiration, they only need to cast their minds back two years ago when we were some 11 points behind Doncaster and Carlisle with eight games to go, and we all know what happened next...

Forest's travel woes worsen as Baggies blast ahead

What is happening to Forest's away form? How did we go from being almost a year unbeaten to losing seven games in a row? It doesn't seem to matter who our opponents happen to be, be it Birmingham or Barnsley, we just don't seem to have a clue what we're doing on our travels at the moment, and consequently it's seen our automatic promotion hopes go up in smoke.

It says it all how badly things are going for us that Barnsley took the lead when they had hardly been in the game at all. It was Forest who were doing all the pressing, but a momentary lapse in concentration in defence allowed the home side to take the lead just 12 minutes into the game. And you got the feeling that despite it being only a one-goal lead, Forest's confidence would take such a dip that they would struggle to get back in the match. Even though their dominance of the first half had deserved a goal, their final ball was very poor, in particular from Dele Adebola who was starting in place of Dexter Blackstock, who was left out of the starting line-up because he was nursing a slight knock. Adebola found himself clean through on two occasions, but his shot was off-target both times. Had it been Rob Earnshaw or Blackstock, nine times out of ten, the ball would have been in the net, but Adebola really showed his age last night. He should never start games, as he just cannot cut it any more. Coming on as a late substitute to shore things up is fine, but his performance last night, and indeed throughout the season, proves that he should not be starting games.

Just when Forest were looking increasingly likely to equalise in the second half, they suffered a body blow when Earnshaw, who was doing some defensive work, tripped Filipe Teixeira in the penalty area. He was booked for his trouble, and Daniel Bogdanovic, who had scored Barnsley's first goal, made it a rather flattering 2-0 to Barnsley from the spot. Again, Forest's poor defending had cancelled out all their hard work, and they only had themselves to blame. Blackstock came on as a substitute for Adebola, and it took him only four minutes to score and resurrect Forest's hopes of getting something from the game. But, alas, it was not to be, and the Reds' disastrous away form continues as West Brom pulled further away from them in the table with an excellent away win at Swansea. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Forest badly missing McKenna as automatic promotion hopes start to drift away

Exactly a year ago today, Forest were on the receiving end of a humiliating 5-0 thrashing at Lancastrians Burnley. Fast forward 52 weeks later, and this time it was Burnley's near neighbours Preston who gave Forest a footballing lesson as the woeful Reds found themselves trailing by three goals after only half an hour. A brave comeback in the second half at least gave us a bit of pride and will hopefully help us rediscover our confidence on our travels, as this was our fifth consecutive away defeat in the League.

The big question before the game was how would Forest cope without influential captain Paul McKenna, who is likely to be out for the rest of the season. The answer to that is: badly. McKenna's replacement Lewis McGugan was very poor, and his central midfield sidekick Guy Moussi wasn't much better. As a result of our midfield being so flimsy, the defence was really under pressure, and Preston ran us ragged. It was of little surprise when they took the lead after 20 minutes, and then nearly ten minutes later had a deserved two-goal cushion when Chris Cohen gave away a penalty. Forest were absolutely awful and when Preston scored a third just three minutes later, it seemed that we were heading for a nightmare afternoon. The half time whistle could not come soon enough.

To the disgruntled Forest fans' pleasant surprise in the second half Forest were like a different team. Billy Davies' decision to substitute Luke Chambers for McGugan was a good one as this meant Cohen could move back into midfield where we were crying out for him so badly. It did mean Chambers playing in a strange position at left back, but at least we wouldn't look so hopeless in midfield. Forest could quite easily have given in after their shocker in the first half, but Cohen's presence in midfield seemed to make all the difference in the world as they played much more like a team chasing automatic promotion. Dexter Blackstock pulled a goal back from the penalty spot just before the hour after Cohen had been fouled, and a comeback seemed a real possibility when substitute Rob Earnshaw made it 3-2 with 15 minutes left. But try as they might the Reds just fell short of nicking an unlikely equaliser. Unfortunately they had to pay for their inept first half display.

It was a costly blow to our automatic promotions as West Brom's win over Blackpool stretches their lead over us to five points. Let's be honest a team with designs on automatic promotion shouldn't be losing five in a row away from home. If we are to be in the Premiership next season, it's looking very likely that we will get there via the play-offs. At the start of the season, we would have been delighted with that.

McKenna blow blackens Forest's late, late show

Luke Chambers once again showed how valuable he can be in front of goal when he headed home in stoppage time from a corner to snatch all three points for Forest and deny Swansea what would have been a deserved point in their quest for a play-off place. But the euphoria of going back into second place in the table was tainted by the news that captain Paul McKenna could be sidelined for the rest of the campaign with ligament damage.

I knew something was badly wrong with McKenna when he limped off the field after just seven minutes and was replaced with Lewis McGugan. I didn't even see him get injured, and the fact that he was able to walk didn't suggest that he could be sidelined for a lengthy spell. Even though he had been playing not that well recently and Billy Davies had expressed a desire to rest him, it was still better to have a below-par McKenna in midfield than no McKenna at all.

Forest already had injury problems before kick-off as both Kelvin Wilson and Rob Earnshaw picked up training injuries on Friday. This meant a rare chance for Chambers to come into the side alongside Wes Morgan. I wasn't too unhappy about that as Chambers had done well earlier in the season in this position. But if we forget the fact that he scored the all-important match winner, he didn't exactly give Davies a good reason to give him an extended run in the team as he looked quite sloppy at times. This was probably down to rustiness more than anything as we've seen him play a lot better, but if Wilson is fit for the next game at Preston at the weekend, I think he'll be straight back in the side. It also highlights a need for us to sign another quality centre half, because although we have a very good defensive record this season, suddenly with Wilson's injury, the defence is looking rather flimsy. It's not exactly a good foundation to mount a promotion challenge upon. There are only 11 games left and it would be a shame if we were to fall just short because of our lack of squad depth, which could easily be sorted out with one or two astute loan signings.

At least we have signed a left winger anyway. The signing of George Boyd from Peterborough is a very inspiring one. They called him the 'White Pele' down at London Road, which is probably exaggerating his worth just a bit, but they insist he is the best player who has ever graced the turf at Peterborough. But then again it isn't particularly difficult to stand out at that Club! I thought he had a pretty good debut but he didn't see an awful lot of the ball. When he did get it, he looked quite impressive. I think he will turn out to be a big asset for us, and hopefully he will do enough to earn himself a permanent move in the summer. A fee has already been agreed between the two Clubs, and judging by his interviews he is delighted to be here. Middlesbrough were also interested in signing him, but our position in the table obviously proved more attractive.

It was important that with Swansea just behind us in fourth place, that they didn't beat us, because if they did they would have closed the gap to just two points with a game in hand. They were denied a penalty when Chris Cohen, who was playing at left back, brought down Darren Pratley, but fortunately for Forest the referee failed to spot it, and we got away with it. The way the game was going, I was more than happy to settle for a point and wasn't even thinking about us snatching a winner at the end. I was just counting down the time on my watch and hoping the referee would blow his whistle. I think it was nearly five o'clock when Chambers headed the winner unmarked at the far post. The game must have kicked off late because we did a minute's applause for Macclesfield Town manager Keith Alexander, who sadly died suddenly earlier in the week. I really like the idea of applauding rather than being silent. I think life should be celebrated no matter how short or long.