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...