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.