Forest must do their Best to sign a striker

I'm not sure how we won so comfortably yesterday. I would be lying if I said the quality of our performance deserved a 4-0 scoreline, because it didn't. In fact, most people picked Paul Smith as our Man of the Match, so what does that tell you?

Obviously if Smith never made saves, then he'd be a pretty useless goalkeeper, but had it not been for him, I think Leyton Orient would have won the game. When Grant Holt put us in front with a header, it was rather against the run of play, and as we had been quite poor up to then, I only half-cheered the goal as I thought we wouldn't hold on for long.

But we were much better in the second half, and once Holt made it 2-0 from the penalty spot, we looked comfortable, and Smith, who had right at the start of the half made a superb last-ditch save in a one-on-one situation, became more of a spectator as further goals from Kris Commons and sub Matt Thornhill's first for the Club completed the rout to stay in sight of Swansea, who remain three points clear after winning again.

Carlisle lost at Doncaster, so we are back in second place for the moment. The promotion race is wide open this year with the top three changing places every week. Leeds would have been the runaway leaders had they not suffered that fifteen-point penalty, but even they have shown recently that they can be beaten, and many of their goals have come in the last minute, which suggests that they have had to work hard to get good results.

We've got some huge games coming up against our promotion rivals, with Swansea visiting the City Ground in a fortnight's time.
That should be a really exciting match, if not nerve-wracking. Provided we get some good results in the meantime, that game could be a real top-of-the table clash with the winner being top by the end of it!

Next weekend we have to visit Swindon again, scene of that awful, awful rain-sodden 2-0 defeat we suffered two seasons ago. It was a rude awakening to life in League One, and the first of many sub-standard displays on our travels that season. I had the misfortune of going to that and got drenched on an open-terrace, and then as if things weren't bad enough, on my way back home via Oxford, I managed to lose sight of my mum, who had come with me, and got on the train without her. Thank god for mobile phones, otherwise I don't know how I would have contacted her. Needless to say, I have decided to give this game a miss, and given Forest's recent performances away from home, I am confident I won't regret it, either. We have been poor on our travels even with Nathan Tyson and Junior Agogo, so unless we sign somebody this week, I am really worried about where our goals are going to come from. Holt may have scored twice against Orient, but one of them came from the penalty spot. I don't think he is the answer at all, and in any case he's made it clear that he doesn't want to be at Forest, so what is the point?

Agogo will be missing for the next month, and we can't rely on Tyson to stay fit for any length of time, so we are extremely limited in our striking options, and at such a crucial time, too. We have had a couple of bids for Coventry's Leon Best rejected, so we are looking for a striker, but Colin Calderwood's interview on Radio Nottingham was rather worrying. He said that the Club was having difficulty attracting players. I can't believe that! Forest are more attractive than most clubs in the Championship, and a few in the Premiership, so I can't believe players wouldn't want to play for them! All the other clubs chasing promotion are busy strengthening their squads, while Forest as usual continue to procrastinate and leave everything to the last minute.

Calderwood better pull his finger out and bring a striker in this week, or I fear that once again we will be in for a disappointing conclusion to a season that had promised so much.