Issue 113 – 01 February 2010

Forest lose unbeaten run… at Pride Park!
It was written. Football can be as predictable as it is manic, and today’s meltdown has been lurking in the shadows for some time.
A performance that would have satisfied Colin Calderwood only compounded the inevitability. From the first whistle our opponents had the upper hand, and for the first time this season our players were guilty of believing their own publicity.
The net result was arguably the worst performance of the season – and indisputably the worst result.
Nobody can argue that Forest are the superior side, even on today’s evidence, but we have been reminded of our frailty in the face of a side that will not let us play. Whether most Championship opponents will have the resolve to sustain the work rate needed to topple us is another matter. Nonetheless, today’s collapse is a blueprint for future failure.
When our equilaterals are scythed and our wingers are clipped we are as fond as the next team of ‘lumping it’ – and the cap doesn’t fit. Not for a moment did we look capable of winning the game, and not for a moment did an opener for the home side seem anything less than inevitable.

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