THIS particular corner of South Wales was hardly unfamiliar to Chris Burke, who made 121 appearances for Cardiff City. But you sense the winger has had few more frustrating afternoons plying his trade in the city.
Burke was far from the worst performer on a difficult afternoon for Nottingham Forest. In fact he was one of few Reds players to emerge with any credit.
But it says much about the spirit within the Forest ranks that this was a defeat that was felt particularly keenly in the unfamiliar surrounds, for Burke at least, of the away dressing room.
It was not so much the result as the performance that stung the Reds players, as they tasted defeat in the Championship for the first time under Stuart Pearce.
But, while Burke could not hide his disappointment as he spoke in depressed fashion by the dug outs after the game, the Scotsman hopes that there can be one positive to be found amid the gloom – in the form of inspiration to do better; to strive to avoid suffering a similar sense of frustration when Forest face another of the promotion chasers tomorrow night.
Forest face another tough challenge at high flying Watford, but Burke says they must ensure that the Hornets face a Reds side with far more of a sting in their tail.
"We look forward to the game on Tuesday. We have to take this on the chin and, more importantly, use this as an advantage… We have to use this as a motivation," said Burke. "In certain aspects, this was perhaps what we needed. We do not want to play like this again. Hopefully you won't see a performance like that from us again.
"As individuals and players, when you get beaten, you have to make sure that you gave it your all; that you could not have done better. That is why we are disappointed.
"We just didn't deliver, which is why we got beaten. We are disappointed in the manner of the defeat, because we did not do ourselves justice. That was a disappointing part. Not only did we lose the game, but we also came away from the dressing room without being able to say that we gave it our all.
"The plus in this league is that the games come thick and fast and we have an opportunity to make it right. We will look to do that against Watford. They are a good side on a good run, but we believe that if we play well, we can get the three points.
"This league is relentless, there will be twists and turns all the time in the Championship. But we will look to bounce back. That has to be our goal."
Burke remains positive about the start Forest have made to the season, with the club having been unbeaten in the league prior to what was their worst display of the campaign so far.
But he accepts that they must rediscover that determination not to be beaten that had previously carried them through when they had not been at their best.
"Of course we have made a positive start to the season. We had been playing well and getting good results – but we also had that never say die attitude," he said. "As the game went on longer, we felt we could get something, because we actually started to look like ourselves in the final five minutes.
"But when you are playing against a team like that, you will always get punished if you only turn up for the final five minutes.
"It was very disappointing, we just didn't deliver, it was only in the last five minutes where we really looked like scoring. We had an off day. We did not get tight, we did not shut down and we did not pass the ball as well as we usually pass the ball. When that combination happens, you do not tend to do well.
"We showed that we could do it in spells, but when you are against a side who have quality on the pitch like Cardiff had, you are going to get punished. That is why we have been beaten, that is why we have come away with nothing."
Burke was unlucky not to change the course of the game himself, with Craig Noone clearing his goal bound effort off the line after the winger had beaten keeper David Marshall with a fine shot, when the score was still at 0-0.
"I don't know why he was on the line but he was and he cleared it. Football is a strange game. Within a minute they went down the other end and scored," he said. "That changed the whole outlook of the game. The two goals or the two shots at least, we could have stopped. Then by half-time we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
"We did believe we could win the match coming out for the second half and, had the game gone on any longer, we might have snatched something.
"When we have gone ahead in games this season, I think we have won most of them and perhaps drawn one or two. We were confident that, had we scored first, we might have gone on to win. But it obviously didn't work out that way. We did not do enough to win it."
Despite a frustrating recent run of four consecutive draws and a defeat, Forest still remain very much in the promotion hunt, even after dropping out of the top two.
And Burke believes the division is there for the taking, if one side can string together a strong run of form – and he hopes it can be Forest, even if he warns it will be a difficult challenge.
"I have played in the Championship for a long time and one of the hardest things to do in this division is pull away. There are always so many sides who get results, who get on good runs of positive results," he said. "You look at the run we had been on, without being beaten. We have not pulled away. Other teams always pick up positive results.
"That is because of the amount of good teams who are in the league. It is a good division and the quality is high. Anyone can beat anyone. I have always said that. We are disappointed, but we will look to bounce back at Watford. We believe we can win and we will look to do that on Tuesday.
"We want to be the side that sets the pace. We try to do that in every game. You have to work hard in every game to get wins – certainly the best way for us to bounce back is for us to get three points on Tuesday."
