Derby defeat is hard to take, but we'll have the last laugh

I know we had to lose sometime, but did it really have to be against Derby of all teams? I am not ashamed to admit that at the end of the game yesterday I was in tears. The taste of defeat felt really foreign to me, and the fact that it was Derby made my stomach churn. Couldn't Forest have held on until the Coventry away game to lose their unbeaten record? It wouldn't have been nearly as sickening and I wouldn't have had to witness it.

Saying all that, I don't think we can have too many complaints about losing because (gulp) Derby were the better side. It was a rare off day for Forest. Whether it was down to nerves or tactics, or a bit of both, it's hard to say, but we were not nearly as good as we are capable of. We struggled to create much at all and it was only Derby's poor finishing that kept the scoreline respectable. We were possibly a bit better than them in the first half, but the Rams were all over us after the interval, and when they went in front with just twelve minutes remaining through a Rob Hulse header that came as a result of a Judas free-kick the writing seemed a little bit on the wall. I think Billy Davies rather messed up our chances of getting anything from the game by taking both Paul Anderson and Rob Earnshaw off. No sooner had Anderson departed the field for Guy Moussi when Derby scored. I am not entirely sure what Davies was thinking of adding another central midfielder into the mix and depriving us of Anderson's pace, but there you go. It was obvious that he was content to play for a point, but it rather backfired on him. Still, every manager no matter how great they are cannot get it right all the time, so we can't complain too much.

I was surprised at how quickly I got the game out of my system. I thought I'd feel pig sick all weekend and possibly all week, but I already feel like I'm over it. I think it's because Forest have been so fantastic all season that we have to expect bad days like this now and again. Maybe in some ways it's a blessing that the 19-match unbeaten run has finally come to an end, because it was perhaps becoming something of an albatross around our neck. The players might have developed a fear of losing the record and that might have adversely affected their promotion chances. Now it has gone we can go into games with a bit less pressure. We are still second and two points clear, and Newcastle dropped two points against ten man Leicester, so we've still got plenty to be happy about. At the end of the season when it comes to the final shake-up, it's Forest who will be able to hold their heads high whether we achieve promotion or not. Derby will no doubt be releasing a DVD of their 'famous' win over us, but it could be the case that we won't be playing them for some time now, so let them enjoy their moment. We might have bigger fish to fry next season.