Ratings Vs Birmingham [A]

Smith – 5.5 – before today he had improved some aspects of his game, including his throwing, but today showcased perfectly why some supporters are not happy with him. He invites pressure on to the entire side by snubbing back-passes and inviting defenders to hammer the ball into the stand. At one stage he aimed a limp wrist at a comfortable cross and missed completely. New balls please.

Chambers – 5.5 – some of his forward passing was very poor today, especially when he had time to think about what he was doing. Defensively he was left sprawling at times but he has had much poorer games this season.

Wilson – 6 – solid in patches, but he was a guilty component of a back three that lacked composure all game.

Morgan – 6 – lifted spirits with another cameo in attack, but one or two mistakes in defence.

Moloney – 5.5 – missed a couple of headers and found himself stretched for most of the game.

Heath – 6 – worked exceptionally hard to stay afloat and was one of our better defenders. Struggled in points, but he is coping well.

McGugan – 7.5 – not a particularly combative effort, but he seemed to have regained his talent for the occasion. Quiet in periods, he had several magic moments with his footwork and nearly carved something from nothing three or four times.

Perch – 6.5 – some important tackles to ease pressure on the defence. Provided nothing on the ball, but played a fairly important role for most of the game.

Cohen - 7.5 – another tireless effort and some good football. I was impressed with Cohen’s
breaking forward today, despite one or two frustrating moments.

Garner – 5 – just was not involved.

Tyson – 7 – his pace is a tremendous asset, but alone it is not enough.

Subs:

Newbold – 6 – the experienced defenders saw him coming from miles away. We did see his pace for the first time as he ran across field to fight a lost cause.
McCleary – 6 – I can only think of one run that caused problems.
Breckin – 6 -

Soviet Russia?

From the moment I tumbled out of bed and ploughed my toe into the door frame this morning I was quite sure that this wasn’t going to be our day.

This early trauma was followed by a nightmare day of irksome traffic jams, a panicking sat nav and, ultimately, a disappointing Reds defeat.

At half past five this evening I was parked outside an Asda, literally gluing bits of the car back together as goading Welshmen lumbered by. There can be no better allegory for Forest’s own fortunes.

Davies was left with no choice but to field a patchwork Forest side for this afternoon. The return of Cohen and Morgan gave a timely boost, but the team was tearing at the seams before the game had started.

For 18 minutes we staged an admirable impression of a team with no blemishes to mention, but their opening goal was a hammer blow.

The visiting supporters, in the strongest possible voice for the opening 18 minutes, were left brooding over the reality of defeat.

Forest’s performance degenerated in tandem. Gaps at the back became chasms, and individual errors became fairly regular. Long balls for Tyson were the spirited but futile response.

And through all of this, the Cardiff side we have spent the entire week quaking about were fairly dull.

The famous Cardiff supporters remained fairly unmoved too; their cauldron of horror and intimidation struck me as more like a drop-in centre for the mentally disabled.

Despite our own faults and frailties I did not once give up the hope of a useful point this afternoon.

We scrapped, hassled, battled and harried, all despite the shackles of a referee determined to blow up for every 50-50 and shoulder barge.

The problem was the lack of chances. Tyson was starved all afternoon, latching on to scraps and wayward headers with little effect.

Many thought his determination had brought us an equaliser. I noticed the referee’s gesticulations early on and didn’t bother to celebrate. Whether the goal was ruled out for the challenge on the defender or the goalkeeper I’m not entirely sure.

Cardiff’s second was an almost inevitable response to Forest’s subsequent sulking.

All things considered we probably deserved to lose, but only just.

The home side were organised and confident, but something tells me they were not at the races today and a below par Forest side was never more than a stride behind.

We did very little more than roll up our sleeves and ride our luck on through balls this afternoon, yet we still came desperately close to snatching something against one of the division’s stronger teams.

It makes it even more frustrating that Arthur is baulking over transfer fees – under sensible management we are clearly only two or three players away from being extremely comfortable in mid-table.

Stretched as we are, I am concerned about how many more times we will be man-handled out of the way through a simple lack of numbers. Building for the future is sensible, but why do players signed for a relegation battle necessarily have no use during better times? Baffling.

If next season does bring better times, I have almost no doubt that Cardiff will still be around to share them. They’re punching above their weight at the moment, and without their creaking hovel of an abode next season they may find themselves struggling for points.

The new stadium, for the record, is built in the car park of a supermarket and looks unashamedly as though it is made of Lego.

Residential Cardiff itself remains a colder and less welcoming version of Soviet Russia.

Ratings Vs Cardiff [A]

Smith – 6 – a quiet afternoon. No particularly difficult saves to make. His kicking and ‘commanding’ were below par, but you knew that already didn’t you?

Chambers – 6 – another extremely hard-working display, undermined by familiarly poor positioning. He had the measure of their wingers in the most part, but he is quick to run out of ideas when things get complicated. Seemed to lose his man for the goal.

Morgan – 7 – a welcome return.

Breckin – 7 – solid enough overall.

Wilson – 6.5 – a reasonable game despite being marooned on the left. I’d sooner start Wilson at left back than the much-maligned Lynch.

McCleary – 4.5 – we know all about his potential, and he was fairly useful on Tuesday night, but this was a horror show. Balls were bouncing off him as if he hadn’t played the sport before.

McGugan – 6.5 – dire set pieces and wasted one or two opportunities with scuffs, other than that he was useful in putting his foot on the ball and buying time.

Perch – 7 – vanished a few times but returned to make some important tackles. His sideward passing can be frustrating and unnecessary, but recently it has played into Davies’ hands perfectly.

Thornhill – 7.5 – one of his best performances for the club. Came into his own with plenty of graft and some decent movement.

Cohen – 7 – plenty of work but not as much craft. Allowed his frustration to get the better of him in the end.

Tyson – 7 – did ok on his own, but the partnership he has been working on with Earnshaw wasn’t particularly evident with Garner.

Subs:

Garner – 6.5
Moloney – 6.5

A vital win

A very big win tonight. The kind of win we may look to at the end of the season and feel particularly grateful for, and the kind of win that we most certainly would not have registered two months ago.

The change in manager and the enormous reality check that followed it have, so far, turned the club on its head.

Gone are the promising performances dogged by exasperating decisions and eventual defeats. Welcome to the era of common sense and the delightful knack for, well, winning.

Let’s hope it continues.

Lining up without Bennett, Morgan, Cohen and Anderson is somewhat daunting. The team looked desperately weak and, musing over our prospects in the pre-game traffic jam, I might have taken a draw.

At 0-1 and looking fairly dour, I had no doubt in my mind that a point would suffice.

And then came the magic. Tyson effortlessly despatches a one-on-one, with his right foot, and Jeffers is sent off. All of a sudden it looked almost certain to be Forest’s day.

Most of the second half was abominable. There was very little effort to grasp possession and Wednesday’s height and graft kept pulses racing all evening.

The entire stadium was shrouded by a brooding mood swing over the visitors’ resilience. And who would have thought that Luke Chambers would be the one to emerge from the gloom?

After the second goal, which I hadn’t seen coming, we always looked comfortable.

Tonight was not about a performance, it would about grinding out three points and beginning the laborious process of cementing distance between ourselves and the bottom three. It was about back-to-back home wins, shrugging off a monkey that has weighed us down for months,

Derby tumbling into the relegation zone is a delightful bonus,

The only concern is our mounting injury list. A team without Bennett, Breckin, Morgan, Moussi, Cohen, Anderson, Earnshaw and Garner (suspended) would be hard pushed to thrive even in the league below.

I hope to see one or two new faces before the Cardiff game.

A word on the opposition. Wednesday are a fine old club, and their numbers tonight deserve credit at the very least. We have a common anguish in our burning desire to avoid a return to League One.

Like Forest, Wednesday is a club that has missed the boat in recent years. Both clubs are badly in need of a lick of paint, in a literal sense if you care to look at either stadium.

With bolshie Bill at the helm, I’m more confident than I have been for a long time that our return to splendour might not be so far away.

Ratings: Vs Wednesday [H]

Smith – 6.5 – not the busiest of games but he was generally solid and his distribution (at least when rolling or throwing) was satisfactory. Nearly cost us early in the second half by disappearing into a cloud of bodies and not emerging until a goal kick was given.

Chambers – 6 – beaten rather easily a few times and played some very poor balls, but a vital goal.

Breckin – 7 – a simple and solid display.

Wilson – 7 – as above. Davies’ straightforward approach to defending is doing the job, for now.

Heath – 7 – already better than Lynch. Industrious if imperfect as a defender, and as comfortable in possession as anybody at the club.

Davies – 6 – a bright start, but ultimately something of a disappointment. Disappears all too easily.

McGugan – 6 – perhaps I expect too much from him, but I think he has the ability to take control of games like today’s. Unfortunately he went missing quite often. His set-pieces are useful compared with the alternatives.

Perch – 7.5 – another solid display hoovering up behind the midfield. I’m not a big Perch fan, but he’s been solid.

McCleary – 7 – excellent through ball for Tyson’s goal. He has the credentials, but not always the application.

Earnshaw – 7 – working harder than he ever has before and it’s getting results. He and Tyson have evidently been spending a lot of time together in training – is this the closest thing we’ve had to a partnership since Johnson and Harewood?

Tyson – 8 – looks twice the player of a few months ago. He’s even controlling the ball. It’s funny what confidence can do.

Subs:

Garner – 6 – no change from a pretentious referee.

Thornhill – 6

Moloney – 6

Hysteria Part Two

It’s half time. It has been a disaster.

Weeks of expectancy have passed, building to a crescendo of absent daydreams and nauseating anticipation. At the moment it all seems to have been a waste of time.

I comment that a replay seems as appealing as a final itself. The 45 minutes looming before us has an empty quality and the mood is one of thorough despondency.

As a football fan this is very nearly the lowest point imaginable.

But the best is yet to come. Once again, in a style that has barely seemed possible at points over the last ten years, Forest emerged to salvage pride and send spirits through the stratosphere.

The madness of the 64^th minute is something I would not swap for worlds.

Expansive and vivid though it is, the English language has no words to adequately describe the celebration of goals as meaningful as Earnshaw’s tonight.

It is nothing less than hysteria - a terrifying mass of lunacy and derangement. The noise levels are tempestuous; it is as if the crowd has been set ablaze and is roaring for life itself.

It is almost literally priceless.

On reflection it is a touch disturbing that this sport of ours can pull grown men to the uppermost extremities of human emotion. But it does, and attempting to rationalise it is a job beyond my means.

Two clashes with Derby this season have knocked years off my life, and it is a daunting but impelling thought that we are only half way there.

For long periods tonight the fact that this was an FA Cup tie was unreservedly forgotten and irrelevant. But what it does mean is that somebody must come out on top next time.

Frankly the consequences of defeat seem insufferable.

Defeats to Derby in the past have left me sulking for weeks to follow, but that is what makes these fixtures so enticing.

That is why every single one of us will spend the next ten days or so doing exactly what we did this week – staring into space and relishing the glorious possibilities.

One thing is for sure, we will have to raise our game. Not only for the Derby fixtures, but for the very purpose of survival. Maintaining our exceptional form whilst teams below us tackle disarray could prove crucial.

For half of tonight’s match we were diabolical. Defensively we afforded them time and space beyond explanation, the midfield melted into obscurity, and the forwards chased shadows.

Every cross and every corner threatened to induce heart attacks and Smith, regaled by full time, gave a masterclass in how not to command an area.

In the second half it was a different story entirely. Having the confidence to attack a game can do wonderful things and Derby were left reeling by Tyson, McCleary and Anderson. Their combined pace, with Earnshaw fizzing between them, was simply too much.

For 15 minutes in the second half we dominated but the storm seemed to have past when Earnshaw netted. I shall be forever grateful that it hadn’t.

Overcoming the hammer blow of a manager gone astray is huge. Wes Morgan’s absence for similarly troubling reasons was another major handicap prior to kick off. But we have survived, and now the path to glory has surely been set?

Only time will tell, of course. I’m rather hoping for a repeat of 2003’s City Ground romp – I’m simply not sure that my heart can stand another game like this.

The best of wishes to Billy Davies, who is tackling one of the few circumstances in life that render all of the above completely meaningless.

Ratings Vs Sheep [A]

Smith – 8.5 – a 10 for his second half heroics, but he struggled in the first half. At one stage his front post was exposed for a corner, his response was to shrug and point at it like a scared child. If Smith is to be our number one goalkeeper he really must work on this part of his game.

Chambers – 6 – struggled at times, especially in failing to cut out crosses, but this was a tremendously hard-working display. Chambers adores the adulation of the supporters and is relishing life as a Championship player, I just don’t think he is quite good enough.

Breckin – 7 – a solid performance overall, despite several moments of indecision – particularly later on when legs were dragging. His negative approach to defending can be frustrating, but it suits a team that is under the cosh and I was grateful to have him there tonight.

Wilson – 7 – one of his better performances this season. One or two mistakes, which he atoned for, and a concrete performance.

Lynch – 4 – Kelly says he was injured at half-time, which means Lynch either bottled it or Kelly is protecting him. A woeful display.

Anderson – 7.5 – his pace on the break was fundamental to our recovery. He will be missed. He and Cohen were superb on the break.

Perch – 8 – I’m not Perch’s biggest fan but I thought he matured remarkably for the occasion. His midfield input consisted of little more than scrapping, but some of his last ditch tackles were exceptional.

McGugan – 6.5 – a tale of two halves, as with everybody else. Missed the opportunity to boss the game in the second half; he could have owned the midfield tonight and an on-song Lewis might have won it.

Cohen – 7.5 – somewhat lost in a midfield that was being bypassed completely, but his application made him extremely useful in the second half. I can remember two or three cross-field balls that were remarkable.

Earnshaw – 8 – what a moment, and what an excellent striker’s goal.

Tyson – 8 – looks three or four times the player that he did a few months ago. I now get excited when the ball leaves his boot. Keep it up, please.

McCleary – 7 – a bit of a ‘one trick pony’, but the trick seemed to work tonight. A bit too laid back for my liking, but he got the job done.

A bit of common sense + Ratings Vs Plymouth [H]

Life after Calderwood continues to be beautifully simple. As the axed manager gave a dreary commentary on Preston’s clash with Burnley, the side he left behind were preparing for a fourth consecutive win.

This isn’t simply an improvement, it’s a wholesale revolution.

Of course it isn’t all because Calderwood has left, and it isn’t all because Davies has arrived. But whatever the reasons, it is extremely important.

On Boxing Day, smarting from a rout by the division’s bottom club, who could have predicted that by mid-January we would be three points clear of relegation – above Derby?

Today’s performance was nothing to get especially excited about. The key difference between this display and the Calderwood equivalent is the outcome of three points.

Davies has done little more than bring common sense to the banks of the Trent.

We are no longer marking empty spaces or stumbling forward into dead ends. The squabbles over responsibility aren’t happening, and the culture of tolerating failure has been replaced by a sober realisation of the consequences.

A lot of this is, of course, is the result of players doing their utmost to satisfy a new mentor. But I would like to believe that Davies’ approach to graft and discipline is worthy of some credit.

The pre-game reception for the new manager was exceptional. And there is no doubting that the crowd responded to his calls for vocal support, albeit in patches.

Capital One Corner was particularly buoyant, blemished perhaps by a bizarre chorus of ‘you’ll never work again’ in the dying moments. I have never seen as many baffled faces in the lower Bridgford.

In terms of the football, it was a simple game – stunted slightly by a finicky referee with a fondness for his own whistle. Forest were deep, but crucially Tyson and Earnshaw were not. Instead of roving without direction, we returned to the tried and tested ‘two lines of four’.

It is astonishing how many incoming managers profit from addressing these basic points. I think this is the first time we have played 4-4-2 properly for several years.

Plymouth are not a bad side, but they found themselves rattled by a show of genuine grit.

Without doubt the most important moment in the game was Anderson’s wildly deflected strike. Striking so soon after half-time left Plymouth winded and out of ideas.

They played some reasonably effective football, but at 2-0 we never once looked flimsy enough to throw the game entirely.

Plymouth’s flustered attempts to find a way back into the game opened the door to a series of Forest chances – there is a case for saying it should have been even more convincing. But who’s complaining?

The squad certainly needs new blood, but our current form shows that a bit of common sense is almost equally important.

Ratings:

Smith – 6 – taken out of the firing line but, as ever, struggled when not under any real pressure. On more than one occasion he moved to claim balls and then simply melted. Too hesitant.

Chambers – 5.5 – a solid enough first half, but a fairly poor second. Despite obvious work rate, he struggled to stop players passing him fairly regularly.

Morgan – 8 – solid as a buffalo throughout.

Breckin – 7 – didn’t appear to have too many problems this afternoon; his lack of pace is a problem, but he looks more settled this season than he did in the division below.

Wilson – 6.5 – fairly solid, I barely remember his contribution – which I see as a very good thing.

Anderson – 7 – his pace was vital on the break in the second half, but again his ‘end product’ let him down.

McGugan – 7 – a reasonably quiet game until the final 15 minutes when he set about savaging our visitors for the space they were leaving in the middle.

Perch – 7 – had a reasonable game; breaking up play and covering ground ahead of the defence. Having heard his pre-match interview I’m keen to see the armband given to somebody else, particularly as I don’t think he should be starting anyway.

Cohen – 7 – the usual Cohen characteristics of endless hard work and consistency.

Tyson – 7.5 – caused a lot of trouble, probably should have finished the game with a goal.

Earnshaw – 7.5 – work rate has doubled since ‘nemesis’ Davies arrived, and it is paying off. Our form and his goals are no coincidence.

Refreshingly Unpleasant

If Billy Davies found his brow furrowed at Forest’s league position after the City triumph, he probably had the mystery solved by the end of this afternoon.

Charlton were mugged. For much of the first half Forest created as close to possible as nothing, while the hosts were afforded time and space to plot endless routes in behind an industrious but flappable defence.

Tyson’s goal arrived without warning. Seemingly seconds later Earnshaw’s cool lob essentially sealed the points.

The away supporters, a mass of severe glares and wrinkled foreheads, celebrated in disbelief.

Usually exuberant almost to the point of violence, I could celebrate the second goal with nothing more expressive than a gaping jaw.

We have been tipped that Davies is fond of smash and grabs, but for the first 30 minutes it hadn’t seemed possible.

Forest supporters are well-trained in expecting the worst, and despite the cushion I spent the second half gnashing furiously at my fingernails.

A 2-0 advantage at half-time is, frankly, as good as it gets. But the doomsayer does not see three points within grasp when he ponders any such half. He sees gruesome images of an early goal, a rallying home crowd and a dejected drive home.

Charlton capped an intriguingly camp half-time warm up with 15 minutes of solid pressure. Breckin’s automated clearance mechanism laid on a banquet of corners, but a combination of Paul Smith’s gloves and a series of reckless, sprawling blocks kept the score in Forest’s favour.

As the home side ventured optimistically forward, there was a mischievous yearning for Paul Anderson’s pace or Robert Earnshaw’s guile to settle matters with a third.

Anderson struck the corner flag for the second time with our only real chance of the half. But the job was already done.

With a reluctant sense of inevitability, Charlton heads dropped. Their supporters – probably planning next season’s trips to Stockport et al – flocked to the exits.

Not even the incentive of a bizarre five minutes of stoppage time could raise spirits in what simply wasn’t their day.

Of course, it is with complete dyspathy that I view their anguish. We have walked away dejected from unjust outcomes more than once this season.

However, like most Championship supporters I am astonished that Phil Parkinson, possibly one of the least successful caretakers on record, has landed the job.

His appointment seems an acceptance of fate on behalf of the club – perhaps an eye-opener for those who object to the arrival of Billy and his vast battalion at Forest.

And what of Billy Davies? His approach remains something of an enigma. It was a direct, dogged, generally quite unpleasant display.

But as players through themselves into challenges and broke with confidence on the wings there was a reassuring quality of workmanlike competence.

Certainly under Calderwood I would have backed us to ship two goals and walk away with a purgatorial sense of injustice.

Davies spent most of the time watching the game from the shadows.

His goons did much of the barking, the man himself scurried to the forefront to deliver one-to-one instructions during breaks in play.

At the end of the game he acknowledged the travelling support, which was gratefully received.

Walking toward the tunnel with fans chanting his name, I can almost hear him saying: “I knew they’d love me, but popularity doesn’t matter to Billy Davies…”

At the moment it’s only a hunch, but I think his attitude and his confidence might be exactly what we need.

Ratings: Vs Charlton [A]

Smith – 8 – the defence doesn’t look anywhere near as confident with Smith in goal and his kicking was fairly poor. But he deserves credit for another series of exceptional saves.

Chambers – 6 – recovered after an ailing start to give a determined performance.

Morgan – 8.5 – a titanic display from big Wes. He was announced (wrongly) as captain before the game, but on present form he probably deserves the armband.

Breckin – 6 – at times his clearances, homing unstoppably for the higher tiers, can be a hindrance. He was also notably outpaced on at least two occasions. That said, he gave a solid performance overall.

Cohen – 6 – struggled with the basics, including standing people up and not allowing the man to pass. He is wasted here, but his work rate and his determination on the break were enough to redeem his display.

Anderson – 7 – his pace on the break and his dribbling ability are particularly useful, but he is lacking physically and often melts in the final third.

McGugan – 6 – a congested game that did not suit him, despite one or two attempts to weave his way into space.

Perch – 6.5 – did an important job of breaking up play in front of the defence, but I would like Davies to target this role in his January recruitments.

Thornhill – 6 – not bad at all when he had possession, but he tends to disappear for fairly long periods.

Tyson – 7 – he has grown in confidence over the last few weeks and it shows in his performances. Not the time for an injury.

Earnshaw – 7 – excellent finish and plenty of hard work. Hopefully Davies’ presence will continue to draw the level of work rate we have seen from Earnshaw in the last two games.

Subs:

Davies – 5.5 – one flash of what might well have been ability as he delivered a darting ball into the box. Other than that he continued to remind me of somebody who has never played football before.

Garner – 6.5 – immediately won a free kick and kept the ball out of harm’s way with some sensible movement.

An earth-shattering draw

A truly gruesome draw - and another shattering twist in a season of unbridled theatre.

It is not so much a fear of defeat that leads me to dread these games, but a knowledge of the grave consequences.

These clashes are beyond football; they are tribal battles, shrouded in a hatred so irrationally vulgar that for some it is quite insufferable.

Derby ended the last fracas blinded by the rage of injustice. Since then they have suffered a sobering decline, Forest a steady revival.

With Billy Davies presiding and 5,000 venomous supporters in transit, this could be an afternoon that – one way or another – will leave scars to last a lifetime.

The bullishly confident will be celebrating; the indecisive will be rethinking their desperation to avoid that boring home draw against Leyton Orient…

Same time next week?

For Forest fans, games like today’s truly rewrite the rulebook – that is, the post-Millennium edition.

Triumphing as an underdog, and indeed performing well with a lot at stake, has not been part of the job description at the City Ground for some time.

Fearing a debasing rout, and with it the end of our away run, I would probably have settled for a narrow defeat before kick off. Certainly I would have snatched at a draw.

Fans have been steadily coached into believing that mediocre is the target, and the first 20 minutes did little to quell fears of a bruising.

Regardless of their erratic form, City have players of genuine quality – and for a short time it very nearly showed.

Hauling our defenders from their stations with simple, ruthless balls into the channels it was only woeful indecision at vital moments that kept the scores level.

But City’s frustration festered and multiplied as Forest consistently stubbed out their fizz. By the time Shaun Wright-Phillips was subbed passes were going wildly astray and gloved fingers were wagging across the pitch.

A Forest side as industrious as any I have ever seen flung themselves at the mercy of every shot, wrestled for every second ball and played with a vibrant pluck worthy of victory in any game.

Three wayward headers were the sum of Forest’s excitement on the break, but the signs were encouraging.

The travelling supporters, meanwhile, were in exceptional form. Three years in the third tier left many fans brain dead and – somewhat inevitably – there were plenty of people posing for Kodak Moments outside the stadium.

Inside though, they were on their best behaviour. Two hours of gleeful, caustic and fairly incessant singing can only have smeared salt into City’s wounds.

Tyson’s strike was greeted with special occasion celebrations. The kind where one is inclined to jump into the arms of bearded men that others usually cross streets to avoid.

The noise levels explode, fans scream until their lungs deflate and their heads pound, and the mass of bodies writhes and squirms from left to right.

For a precious second or two everything outside of the stadium becomes not only irrelevant but completely forgotten.

And why not? Nathan Tyson has his merits, but he doesn’t do that. Not ever.

By the time the celebrations finished it was goal number two. Chris Cohen lunged for possession as though his career depended on it and emerged victorious; his ball teed up Matt Thornhill’s strike which hammered kindly off Earnshaw into the net.

At this point a cunning suspicion that the game might be interesting after all became a hysterical recognition of the fact that we were probably going to win it.

The travelling fans sung throughout half time. The City crowd, previously awash with scornful faces and vulgar gestures, looked lustfully on.

With Stephen Ireland injured and Robinho seemingly excused by parental note it was only ever going to be Forest’s game.

The home side huffed and puffed, but Paul Smith – brushing aside fears about his confidence – was equal to everything.

He certainly wasn’t alone; Ian Breckin and Wes Morgan homed on attacks with magnetic precision, Wilson and Chambers stayed solid.

After 15 minutes of futile pressure the native’s grumblings began and blue shoulders slumped. The death knoll sounded when no City player volunteered to take a corner, cue further bickering.

Anderson and Tyson kept City pulses racing at the back, while McGugan and Cohen delivered performances of Premiership quality.

Dietmar Haman’s bizarre throw in teed up substitute Joe Garner to seal the victory in style.

The post game celebrations will not be forgotten in a hurry, and regardless of the unimportance of the FA Cup compared with survival there is no doubting the importance of the result for morale.

We have successfully dispatched one of the competition favourites with a performance hinged on nothing more than common sense and sheer graft.

Reproduced weekly, this level of effort would land us a play-off place.

I only hope Billy Davies has a working DVD player because he could do with knowing that isn’t always quite like that.

Ratings: Vs Man City [A]

Smith – 9 – several excellent saves and steady throughout.

Chambers – 7.5 – undoubtedly his best display of the season; sensible, careful and solid.

Breckin – 7.5 – a fine game; never before have I been so accepting of his desire to head or hoof even the tamest of through balls.

Morgan – 8 – assured, confident and as solid as a mountain.

Cohen – 10 – our best attacker, our best defender, our past passer and our best tackler. On the strength of this display, the Sheikh will be opening his cheque book for Chris Cohen and not Kaka.

Anderson – 7.5 – looked something of a little boy lost in the first half, a fact underpinned by his willingness to avoid physical challenges. In the second half he recovered to cause endless mischief on the break.

Perch – 7 – subbed early on through injury

McGugan – 9.5 – showed remarkable confidence and composure to weave his way out of trouble and play numerous Premiership-standard through balls. This is what he is all about.

Thornhill – 8 – after spending the early stages of the game in the wilderness he recovered to deliver the simple, composed passing that would seal victory.

Tyson – 8.5 – a screamer of a goal, and he had the legs to keep City defenders on their toes throughout.

Earnshaw – 8.5 – one of his best displays in a red shirt. Somehow the futile balls into the channel and looping balls over the top were not out of his comfort zones. Though shepherded by Micah Richards for long periods, he caused plenty of trouble.

Subs:

Wilson – 7.5

Davies – 7.5

Garner – 9