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...