AS the cliché goes, a week is a long time in football. This time seven days ago we were all preparing for a lunch date with our nearest and dearest, a date with destiny against our most bitter of rivals, Derby County. Fast forward a week and Nottingham Forest have come through the last seven days unbeaten, with a win and two draws while remaining firmly perched at the top of the Championship table.
A five point return from a possible nine, when two games were at home, some would look down on that as a disappointing points haul. But not me, Derby is always an unpredictable fixture at the best of times, especially when the heart of your midfield is ripped out before half-time.
The Fulham result, while not entirely surprising in the sense that Forest put five past a team whose defending wouldn't look out of place at Trent Embankment on a Sunday morning, was hard work. While the Reds managed to go to a notoriously difficult place, on the banks of the Thames this weekend and eke out a battling point.
Earning promotion is never a bed of roses and things never go well 100% of the time, but so far this season, Stuart Pearce's squad haven't wilted. At times his players have come under a barrage of pressure, non-more so than at Hillsborough three weeks ago, but they survived and so they did at the Den (after 20 years, surely the 'New' can be removed from the title now) yesterday. Those teams that earn promotion have an ingrained ability to turn certain defeats into points and winnable draws into wins. Forest right now are doing that, and much more.
I get the sense that under a previous regime, instead of bringing on Jamie Paterson with minutes left, it would have been a Dan Harding, Greg Halford or a Danny Collins to try and preserve the point. Invariably that would have ended up in defeat – a reward for being negative. But Pearce is far from that, he's a positive man and a positive manager. I should add that I mean no disrespect to the aforementioned players; they were merely used to highlight a point in the differing approaches and subsequent outcomes.
Genuine promotion contenders learn to play all types of games, turn it on when possible and stand firm, backs firmly entrenched against the wall when needs must. Pearce has his squad set up to perform both. At no point when under sustained enemy bombardment at Hillsborough or The Den, did you ever think Forest would relinquish their points. Even back on Wednesday evening when Fulham took a deserved 3-2 lead, did you honestly feel Forest were out of the game, and so it proved with that stunning fight back. As Brian Clough once said, you walk across that white line with a point, at the very least, make sure you return with it afterwards.
It is hard to get used to, Forest historically have had an extremely soft under belly. When the chips were down, they'd very often wilt under pressure. They would fill you with hope, and then kill you with the reality. We may only be a handful of games into the Championship season, but even now, this Nottingham Forest seems somewhat different.
Some would say it was only fitting, on a day the nation, but especially Nottingham Forest remembered the tenth anniversary of Brian Clough's death that his club should produce a stubborn and gritty away performance that he would have cherished. Returning to the dressing room with the point they left with just an hour and a half earlier. Music to the ears of Old Big 'Ead!
