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…
