Hungover Reds rescue a point to preserve home record

In a perverse kind of way I was glad that Barnsley took the lead first, because if I'm being honest, after all the excitement of Wednesday night, I was finding it hard to muster up much enthusiasm for this game.

I suspect that the players felt the same. Thrashing Derby 5-2 was still very fresh in their minds, and what with it being New Year's Day, I did think an unexpected result was very much a likely outcome. I remember listening to Nathan Tyson saying on the radio that their unbeaten home record was very vulnerable as the players had to get their heads out of the clouds following the wonderful win over the Rams. Motivating themselves for a home clash with a boring team like Barnsley would be a difficult task, and I can't say I blame them for not being up for it. That's why – please forgive me – I am glad that we were losing, because in the end it turned into a very exciting match and we all left the City Ground really happy that we had rescued a point when we had been playing so badly. Barnsley had every right to feel robbed, but if they were told they would earn a draw against a side that had scored eight goals in their previous two home encounters, they would have thought it was Christmas all over again.

The fact that a player who hadn't scored for nearly seven years was the one to break the deadlock really summed up Forest's first half performance rather nicely. Marcus Tudgay, who just three days earlier won the hearts of the Forest fans with his two goals against the Rams, committed the sin of giving the ball away in midfield, and left back Matt Hill picked it up and struck past Lee Camp from 12 yards out to give Barnsley a shock lead. And by half time they thoroughly deserved to be winning as Forest appeared to be suffering from a New Year's Day hangover.

Hopes that the Reds could come out in the second half were quickly quashed as Barnsley nabbed a second goal five minutes into the half thanks to former Forest player Andy Gray's header. That was the cue for a double substitution as Tyson and Aaron Ramsey entered the action, but their impact was not immediately obvious as Forest continued to play very poorly. But that was until the 68th minute when Chris Gunter made a good run into the penalty area and was brought down. Louis McGugan duly stepped up to take the resultant spot-kick, and this raised hopes that this might inject a bit of life into the Reds' display.

Sure enough, buoyed on by an enthusiastic crowd, Forest got their act together and an equaliser which for so long had looked virtually impossible, suddenly seemed almost inevitable. The introduction of Dele Adebola helped as Forest poured forward. Ten minutes from time, they got the goal they had been craving when Tyson pounced on a loose ball to fire home the leveller, much to the relief of the Forest fans who were half-resigned to defeat earlier.

God knows what a home defeat against Barnsley on the first day of the new year would have done to morale. It might have been written off as one of those things, but on the other hand, it could easily have sapped at our confidence. The longer our record goes on, the more likely it will be broken with every passing match, but it would have been a terrible shame to lose so close to the win over Derby. We haven't had long enough to bask in the glory of beating them, and a defeat would have left a bitter aftertaste in our mouths.