Wednesday, 9 December 2015

Fulham conquered but beware Wolves and Blackburn

When is a blip not a blip? It's hard to tell with Forest isn't it? The thoroughly disappointing defeat in stoppage time against 10-man Brentford threatened to make the glorious Derby victory look like a false dawn. Yet now, two weeks and two home wins on, we're temptingly close to being able to write the sorry events of Griffin Park off as a blip.




In truth this could well turn in to a season of constant ups and downs - the definition of a mid table campaign. Anyone buoyed by the fact that we're now closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone ought to be tempered by what's to come in the shape of trips to Wolves and Blackburn - games that somehow seem even tougher by virtue of being Friday and Monday night trips.

On the face of it these are two teams in the immediate places above us in the table. They both have similar records to the Fulham and Reading sides we've beaten and the Brentford side we ought to have overcome. But football doesn't work like that does it?

I've always rated Kenny Jackett and his Wolves side is showing signs of overcoming a lacklustre spell. I'd still back him to challenge for the top six over the course of the full season and Friday is bound to be a big test. Remarkably, we've actually won on our last two trips to Molineux and, more remarkably still, we've taken a win and draw in our last two visits to Ewood Park, a ground that has otherwise been an unhappy hunting ground. In our last 11 trips to Blackburn we've won 2 and lost 7, including a 7-0 humiliation in 1995. That might've been a while ago, but the modern day side is on a roll, unbeaten in six and thriving under new boss Paul Lambert.

I'd settle for emerging unscathed from this double away test, a couple of draws would help Dougie to build a 'run' and would at least keep the momentum up.

This matters, you feel, because of the message it sends to the players. I reckon that a very similar performance to that against Fulham on Saturday could so easily have resulted in a defeat if we had been in the midst of a bad run. Yet, with those Derby and Reading victories under our belt, we held our nerve to come out on top against Fulham.




A 3-0 win sounds comfortable and, in the end, it was. Yet after the first 20/30 minutes we'd barely had any of the ball and both Fulham strikers - the ever-deadly Ross McCormack and giant Matt Smith - had had headed chances. Smith was being marked by Mancienne, our shortist centre half, and McCormack was coming up against Mills - illogical contests that probably came about because we had expected Dembele to play.

Scott Parker and Jamie O'Hara were dictating terms and wide men Ben Pringle and Tom Cairney made for a classy quartet that kept possession well.

A Forest side in a negative mindset might've panicked and crumbled yet they never allowed themselves to be rocked just as they hadn't, to be fair, when Reading took the lead last week.

Then, following a fabulous overhead cross from Eric Lichaj, Matt Mills came up with a timely headed goal before half time and the result never really felt in doubt from there on, despite what Peter Grant might've thought. A good effort from Nelson Oliveira gifted Chris O'Grady a rebound - 'roofed' as Colin Fray eloquently put it - and Mills bagged a brace after a better-than-usual corner. The away side were now rudderless and toothless. On the hour mark McCormack could be seen coming back to the half way line to collect the ball, symbolic of his frustration and the whole side's struggle for a cutting edge.

Fulham fielded just two of the side that lost 5-3 at the City Ground last year (we only had four to be fair) and look a side in need some stable, sensible management.

All that was left to determine was if Mills could get himself a hat trick, an unlikely feat that was almost pulled off with a sensational attempt that hit the woodwork.

So positive runs of results do matter. We're now five unbeaten at home, with three wins in a row at the City Ground. The run gave us the confidence and cool heads needed to overcome the challenge Fulham posed and it is important for the players to be able to keep that up and continue to be able to suggest Brentford was an anomaly.

It's no exaggeration to suggest that this stage of the campaign - and the two away games this weekend in particular - could determine the course of the season. Things might have been positive in the last two games but you feel we'll have learned a lot by the final whistle on Monday night. If we're still on a positive footing then we can go into festive fixtures against MK Dons and Leeds in good shape and finally file away Brentford.
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