Home is where the Hart is as Forest win yet again

Paul Hart's first return to the City Ground since his acrimonious departure six years ago ended unhappily as Forest beat ten-man Crystal Palace to record their 12th straight home win, equalling the club record set by Brian Clough 30 years ago.

In Hart's final season with the Club he was not a popular man as most supporters clamoured for his sacking as Forest were plunging dangerously close towards relegation into the third tier. But judging by the rapturous reception he got as A-Block chanted 'We love you Harty we do' which then prompted the rest of the home support to join in the applause, it seems that the majority of fans would rather remember him for those wonderful first two years when he brought through so many talented youth players into the first team. We reached the play-off semi-finals in his second year, but after losing to Sheffield United, Forest had a summer to forget as the silver was sold off and a bewildered Hart made some panic buys in the transfer market, and we ended up with a team full of past-it rejects. Hart was ultimately made to pay the price for the board's failings and he was dismissed half way through the following season. Forest survived relegation by the skin of their teeth thanks to the intervention of Joe Kinnear, but it turned out to be merely a stay of execution, and the following year Gary Megson couldn't prevent the inevitable and we were sent tumbling into League One.

Since then, a lot of water has passed under Trent Bridge of course, and looking back, Hart did more good than harm for the Club. In fact if it wasn't for his developing players like Michael Dawson, Andy Reid, and Jermaine Jenas we might not even be here, as it was their multi-million pound sales that staved off administration. Hart, like so many of the other managers who have occupied the hot seat since Cloughie's retirement, was made a scapegoat for the board's incompetence, so I am glad that he got such a warm welcome back.

I was surprised that George Boyd was not included in the starting line-up as Billy Davies decided to keep faith with the side that beat Peterborough, except for an enforced change in defence that saw Luke Chambers come in for the injured James Perch. Chambers swapped places with Chris Gunter so he could play at right back with Gunter moving to the left. This made more sense as although Chambers is poor as a right back, at least he's had plenty of practice there. I would much rather we just signed a proper left back, though. I mean how hard can it be? We shouldn't be having to mess around playing midfielders and central defenders in this position. The loan window closes on Thursday, so let's hope that Davies is working extremely hard to bring somebody in, because it could make all the difference in the play-offs, if that is we don't by some miracle scrape automatic promotion.

It took Forest a whole half of football before they finally broke the deadlock, and what a goal it was...from Wes Morgan of all people. He fired in a 25-yard piledriver, a far cry from the usual close-range headers he has scored from in the past. I had wondered if Forest were ever going to score as Rob Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock had been very quiet, and Forest were resorting to a lot of long-range efforts, as exemplified by Morgan's stunning strike.

We played a lot better football in the second half, and when Palace had Matt Lawrence shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Earnshaw 50 minutes in, Forest's task was made considerably easier. Eight minutes from time substitute Nathan Tyson had only been on the pitch two minutes when he was fed the ball by Paul Anderson after a really good run on the counter attack, and Tyson stabbed the ball home from close range to make it a comfortable 2-0 and ease the Forest fans' nerves as the clock ticked down. It was a rare opportunity for Tyson to play as a striker, and this was his first goal since his strike against Derby back in August. For so long he has been used as a left winger, but as a centre forward he can be lethal on a good day. His goal will give Davies food for thought and maybe he will finally be persuaded to stop persisting with the useless over-the-hill lump that is Dele Adebola.