Faltering Forest could do with one or two fresh faces

It's fair to say that Forest have gone a little bit off the boil recently. They have not played well in the last few games at all, and after losing for the first time since September last week, their confidence seems to have been sapped somewhat. Last night's 1-0 reversal at Coventry City was their second defeat in three games, and their third successive loss away from home if you include the Birmingham Cup game.

We were dominating the opening twenty minutes, but then Coventry scored completely against the run of play, taking advantage of some poor defending. Freddy Eastwood, the player who once said that Forest would be a sideways move from Southend, was the inevitable goalscorer. It was such a shame as until then Forest had looked the much more likely team to score, but the goal settled Coventry, and although they came close to equalising almost immediately through Joe Garner, who was making a rare appearance out on the right wing, they lost their way a little bit, and no amount of tinkering with the team seemed to make a difference.

The only good news of the night was that Newcastle lost 3-0 away from home. It's a pity it had to be against Derby of all teams, but just for one day we won't begrudge them their victory. It seems their win over us last week has really galvanised them. West Brom, as expected, won their home game against Scunthorpe, but we're still only four points away from both first and second place, so all is not lost in our quest to go up automatically.

I wasn't too depressed about losing last night because we can't expect them to be brilliant all season. Most good teams have a blip at some point during the season. Just look at what's happened to Leeds. They thought they had promotion all sewn up in League One, but now they're only four points clear of third place. And don't tell me that Derby are suddenly head and shoulders above Newcastle. See, it happens to all teams. We could probably do with one or two fresh faces on loan to see us through the remaining three months, especially a left back, as James Perch, try as he does, just isn't good enough to play there. It's a pity we couldn't persuade Nicky Shorey to extend his loan with us, rather than join Fulham on loan. But I suppose the lure of Premiership football was just too strong for him. But there must be other decent left backs who are available. Just somebody who plays in that position as a first choice would be a start. It's all very well playing Chris Cohen there, but then we lose him from midfield, and we really need him there. Let's hope that Billy is busy right now trying to bring somebody in, because it could be the difference between us playing in the top flight next season and staying where we are.