Such stuff as dreams are made on

When I woke up this morning I wasn't sure if I had actually dreamt that we had thrashed Derby 5-2. I had a really poor night's sleep because after such an exciting occasion, it's very hard to come back down to earth, so as I write this, I might struggle to make sense.

Last season's encounter at the City Ground is memorable for the goal in the first minute that came courtesy of a stunning strike from Raddy Majewski. And Majewski was once again involved as his corner in the second minute was met with perfection by the head of Luke Chambers, who powered the ball into the back of the net for his second goal in successive games, and it gave Forest the perfect start to what was to turn out to be a highly entertaining match which saw a total of seven goals, five of them thankfully scored by us.

Although Derby hauled themselves level only 12 minutes later when Luke Moore cut through the Forest defence before unleashing a shot which just crossed the line after bouncing off the crossbar, Forest were in control for pretty much the whole half. At half time they looked to be well in control at 3-1 thanks to two headed goals from Marcus Tudgay, a former Rams player.

Unlike the second half of the match last season when Derby clawed their way back to 3-2 after trailing by three goals, Forest looked fairly comfortable defending their lead after the break. The fans really started to believe that the three points belonged to Forest when Robbie Earnshaw made it 4-1. But one or two alarms started ringing when Kris Commons, who was loudly booed throughout the game, immediately hit back with a free kick. And then Derby enjoyed their best spell of the game as they sought a way back into it.

Sensing danger, Billy Davies brought Kelvin Wilson on to shore up the defence, and thankfully Forest were able to weather the Derby pressure and they came through it unscathed. Earnshaw's second goal of the evening, in stoppage time, was a fitting way to end a magical misty night and a superb unbeaten year at the City Ground in 2010. This was the 30th League match that Forest had not tasted defeat in a row. The script probably said that Derby would be the team to end that record, so thank god nobody read it!

Icy reception for Palace as refreshed Reds return to action with a relish

Maybe Forest should have mini winter breaks more often, because if yesterday's completely one-sided performance against Crystal Palace was anything to go by, it does them a power of good.

It's just a pity that I missed what was probably their best performance of the season. I had snow problems of my own yesterday down here in Bedford. While Nottingham was getting away scot-free, we were inundated by the heaviest snowfall we've had in nearly twenty years. I was so worried about the possibility of being stuck on a train for hours that I simply could not take the risk. So I sat at home and listened on the internet. I felt really sad not to be there, but at the same time very relieved that I was at home in the warm and didn't have to catch a train afterwards.

The 3-0 scoreline didn't even come close to being an indicator of how much Forest dominated. It seemed like the only time a Palace player got a mention was when it was their goalkeeper Julian Speroni making a save.

By the time Forest got on the scoresheet in the 31st minute thanks to a Luke Chambers header, it was no exaggeration to say that they could have been three or four goals up. They were playing such good football that it was a surprise at half time that they only had a one-goal lead.

It's quite rare that Forest are able to keep up the tempo for a whole 90 minutes, but in the second half they were even better. Marcus Tudgay, who was making his first appearance since joining on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, made it 2-0 with a lob from thirty yards out just a minute after the restart, and substitute Gareth McCleary, who had only just joined the action, completed the rout five minutes from time to set Forest up for a Happy Christmas, and hopefully a very good 2011.

The players will no doubt have dedicated the victory to the memory of former reserve goalkeeper Dale Roberts, who tragically committed suicide earlier this week.