I am so glad I changed my mind. Forest were anything but poor, and it wasn't even bad finishing that was to blame for another failed attempt at winning. We had plenty of shots on target, but the Millwall goalkeeper earned his money, and despite being far and away the better side, we had to content ourselves with a point.
Still, a point is better than none at all. Millwall had snatched a very early lead, and I thought that there was a miserable afternoon ahead of us, but I think the Forest fans played a huge part in dictating the course of events. They could easily have sat back and moaned, but from the moment that Steve Morison's fourth-minute header glanced past Lee Camp, they got right behind the team, and the players couldn't help but feel encouraged, putting in an excellent 90 minutes.
All the pre-match talk of protests against Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur seemed to have been forgotten and all the supporters were concerned about was the pursuit of three points. It would have been a huge injustice if Millwall had walked off with the win, so thank heavens that we did at least get some reward thanks to Dexter Blackstock who made up for a missed penalty earlier by heading an 80th-minute equaliser when he latched on to Chris Cohen's cross. It did look a rather soft goal from a Millwall point of view, but nobody could say that Forest didn't deserve it. It's just a shame that we couldn't go on and win the game. It would have been very nice to notch up our first victory of the season ahead of two tough away trips to Preston and Hull.
Last season it took us until the eighth game to get a win, and I fear it's going to take a similar kind of run before we get one this term. It makes me very anxious because the longer we go without victory, the more our confidence will dissipate. Morale is pretty low as it is with the lack of new faces, and with such a small squad, injuries to any of our key players could cause us big problems. I've noticed that we are picking up more injuries than last season, and that has to be down to a lack of fitness. Perhaps Billy Davies' coaching staff have not been working as hard as they, like everyone else, have felt less motivated amidst all the negativity.
Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur have never been very popular at Forest at the best of times, and this week the anti-feeling reached a tipping point. The failure to make any permanent signings before the transfer window slammed shut has infuriated the supporters. The squad is so thin it's positively anorexic. Apart from having no cover for injured players, it's not good to have a lack of competition. Players know they are going to make the line-up no matter what, so why even bother trying? And the squad is made up of players clearly not up to the standard of the Championship. Players like Matt Thornhill, Gareth McCleary and Dele Adebola should all be plying their trade in the lower Leagues.
The lack of communication from the Club has been a long-standing bugbear for Forest fans for over a decade, and we've gradually become accustomed to it. But the silence over the lack of transfer activity was a step too far, and Arthur did eventually come out of hiding and made a video statement on the official website - we didn't even have to pay to watch(!) The most interesting part was when he said that Doughty might seriously consider his future if the fans continued to hurl abuse in his direction. Was that a threat or a promise? Please say it's the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment