The League Cup needs melting down, and I'm not just saying that because we're out!

I can't pretend that I felt gutted about last night's defeat at League Two side Bradford in the Carling Cup. To sum up my feelings if losing to Derby feels like being punched in the stomach, this didn't even feel so bad as pricking my finger. They should rename this competition the Couldn't-give-a-damn Cup, because that's how I now feel about it, and I know it's the opinion of many of the game's top managers.

While there will be some Forest fans scratching their heads over the team's inability to beat a side two divisions below them, I am not very surprised at the result. In fact the only unpredictable thing about last night was that the Reds even bothered to put in any effort at all. With so many key players missing owing to international duty, Billy Davies struggled to put a decent side out, so there were recalls for seemingly forgotten men Joel Lynch and Matt Thornhill.

Nathan Tyson was given a rare chance up front on his own as Paul Anderson and Gareth McCleary were handed their first starts of the season occupying the left and right wings respectively. Bradford were hardly in the game at all in the first half as Forest dominated proceedings. It was therefore of little surprise when Thornhill became the first player to score for Forest this season when he converted Anderson's cross in the 36th minute.

The Reds did more than enough to bury Bradford once and for all, but a sloppy mistake from Luke Chambers at the back let them back into it early in the second half, and despite their best efforts, Forest just could not find a way past the Bradford goalkeeper, who was in inspired form, denying Chambers the opportunity to atone for his earlier error.

By the time the match went into extra time, Forest looked like they had run out of ideas, and Bradford took the lead ten minutes into the first period thanks in part to an ex-Notts County player, Simon Ramsden, whose free-kick was spilled and James Hanson bundled the ball home. That proved to be the winner and sent Forest out of the competition at the first hurdle. It's all a far cry from two decades ago when Forest used to take it very seriously, winning it four times in little over a decade between 1978 and 1990, but it's a different climate now. The Championship is where it's at, and that's all we have to concentrate on between now and January. Hopefully the result at Bradford was not a sign of things to come in the League, because if it is, we really do have big problems.