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.