Dear Villa, please can we keep Gary Gardner?

I'm rooting for Villa. Not necessarily this Sunday, although I wouldn't mind seeing them upset Liverpool and the 'FA Cup narrative'. No, I'm backing Villa because I'm clinging to the hope that if they stay up and, even better, if they get bought out by rich owners, they might be prepared to let us keep Gary Gardner.

It's probably a false hope, especially with Tactics Tim's record with younger players and the restrictions we have under the dreaded FFP. It'd be nice though wouldn't it?

Wednesday's night's game against Watford served as a timely reminder of the quality we've missed from Gardner while he was suspended. 

Despite carving a golden chance for Chris Burke I felt we struggled to settle for the first 15 minutes - not helped by gifting a goal to Odion Ighalo after just four minutes. 

However, one touch of magisterial brilliance from the on-loan Aston Villa man lifted us. A neat dinked ball, seemingly innocuous given it led to nothing directly, seemed to spur us into life - as if we realised we had a bit of class to rely on in the middle and could go forward with confidence.

For the rest of the half I felt Watford continued to look dangerous - how did Abdi miss 'that' chance? - but so did we. Former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes denying Antonio, the tigerish Osborn and Eric Lichaj, who tried his luck with an incredible acrobatic effort from distance.

Still, all that good work, inspired by Gardner's poise and sheer class, was undone when Ighalo evaded the lame defensive efforts of an off-the-pace Kelvin Wilson and his shot rebounded to Matthew Connolly, who had started the breakaway, to establish a two-goal cushion.

There were plenty of grumbles at half time but actually it hadn't been a bad game, we simply didn't have the same cutting edge up front with a front line led by a largely anonymous Chuba Akpom and the wide threat of Michail Antonio not quite hitting the heights of a couple of months ago as the season continues to take his toll on the ex-Sheffield Wednesday man (surely the clear player of the year regardless?).

The second half was even more entertaining than the first prompted, bizarrely, by the red card of Kelvin Wilson. His horror show ended with a petulant looking kick out - a lazy bit of play that showed no regard for his team mates or the desire to come back in the game. At that point, with half an hour to go, you feared the cricket season was due to come to West Bridgford earlier than Sunday's first home clash with reigning county champions Yorkshire. Surely the hungry Hornets would pile on the pressure and give their goal difference a boost with the proverbial cricket score?

What followed was a remarkable effort from Freedman's men. Mancienne was put out of his midfield misery and shifted to centre half but the real change came with the sheer display of effort and determination. It was if the players knew they had to up their game to cope with being a man down - and dug deep to improve drastically (which probably also speaks volumes for Wilson's display too).

Led by the lung-bursting forward forays of the revitalised Lichaj, the men in red stormed forward, not caring that there was nothing to play for. Burke battled and schemed, Akpom was replaced by the much more effective Tyler Walker, Antonio dug deep and probed and Gardner, the fulcrum at the heart of everything, sprayed the ball about.

When a marginal free-kick/penalty decision on 72 minutes saw the referee opt not to give a spot kick, Gardner took his frustration out on the ball and thundered in a devastating free kick into the net to pull a goal back. 

What followed from that was something of a slugfest - a shootout at the City Ground corral - as both sides continued to attack. It was refreshing to see to be honest. Our players could have given up, given there was little to play for, and Watford could've sat deep and accepted a useful 2-1 win against 10 men. Instead both strove to find that all-important next goal.

It should've come to Antonio when a shot from Gardner - that man again - found its way to him just a couple of yards out with an open goal to aim at. But, despite all of those wonder strikes he's scored this season, Michail misfired and spooned his effort wide. Anyone stupid enough not to forgive the winger, though, needs to spend a few minutes on YouTube.

The sting in the tail came when Almen Abdi made amends for his earlier miss, finishing after Darlow parried a typically vicious swerved effort from ex-Red Adlene Guedioura. 

It was perhaps cruel, I thought a draw would've been fair for our efforts with ten men, but Watford will think it was reward for their own attacking intent and impressive cutting edge. Even then a slightly rusty Hobbs was charging forward with a give and go on the half way line in injury time - epitomising the exceptional spirit on show.

We've learned that Mancienne really doesn't work as a screening midfielder, that Tyler Walker coming along nicely and that Kelvin Wilson really doesn't deserve to be an automatic starter. Above all, we've also learned that we're at our best on the ball when Gary Gardner is in the side. A permanent deal for him would be the dream - and add real class to an emerging spine of a squad for next year. Does anyone at Villa fancy doing us a favour? Please?

More sunshine and good times for Dougie

I could get used to this. Another Saturday, another superb win for Dougie Freedman's side. It wasn't easy - it took skill, effort and tactical nous to get one over Aitor Karanka's title challenging Middlesbrough - but it was another highly entertaining encounter to carry on the Scotsman's reign in some style.

Fresh from his first defeat, at The Valley on Tuesday, Freedman was forced to shuffle his pack again. I worried that switching Eric Lichaj to left back might spoil his near-flawless displays under the new manager and that the midfield selection - with Mancienne and Gardner in the middle - might be a sign that we were going to be a shade on the defensive side in the face of the threat posed by the likes of Adomah, Tomlin, Kike and the returning Patrick Bamford.

That wasn't really the case, though, in an entertaining first half that was just shaded by the home side. Still, it was Boro - a good technical outfit, well marshalled by one-time (well many times actually!) Forest target Grant Leadbitter - who took the lead through the man himself. Leadbitter's teasing, chipped dink to the far post found the net after a short corner which had predictably caught Forest napping.

That felt unfair based on the run of play and rightful parity was restored when Gary Gardner levelled matters in some style. Having just planted a header wide he made amends with a superb long range curled effort. Sky will have to name its 'Goal of the Day' award after the on-loan Villa man at this rate given the magnificent strike he fired home at the Madejski last week. His performance had deserved it too - a smart display full of clever touches, turns and passes which showed another side of his game, with Mancienne in the side to be the deeper man.

The second half was much more a case of dogged determination and discipline. Boro controlled the ball better as they looked for a way to forge ahead in a super-tight title race. Here Freedman earned his corn once again - setting up a solid shape that restricted to visitors to long-range efforts. It was tough to watch as we struggled to get enough of the ball but it was a system that retained just enough of a threat to conjure a winner.

Michail Antonio had been denied a penalty after what looked to be a pretty deliberate and clear hand ball from Kalas but made sure that that didn't matter by setting up Dexter Blackstock for a well-taken winner. I know some are frustrated at Michail's lack of defensive cover but you do wonder if it's a ploy for him not to track an overlapping full back so that he's in position to spring a counter. Even if it's not you can't be too harsh on him - the pace and power he shows on the left is a handful for anyone at this level and he's a joy to watch going forward. We'd be a much worse side without him.

You couldn't help but be delighted for Dexter too - netting his first goal at the City Ground since Boxing Day 2012 when he scored the 4th in a 4-2 win over Leeds United that was to prove the final game for Sean O'Driscoll. Dexter was a menace for the Middlesbrough back line all afternoon with the sort of hard working and physical display that was the hallmark of his earlier days at the club.

From then on it was what Freedman called a 'superhuman effort' to see the game out. It's the sort of steel we simply didn't have under Pearce. I needn't have worried about Lichaj who once again proved the unsung hero cutting out crosses and getting in tackles alongside Lascelles and Wilson, who both did well. The returning Todd Kane proved rusty in the first half but just about held out as part of the Freedman shape.

It all made for a cracking three points and, just as we feared we had done the Sh**p a favour, the icing on the cake came with news of two injury time goals for Birmingham down the A52.

I'm still not allowing myself to whittle about the play offs. I'm massively enjoying the football served up by Freedman's side and I really don't want to spoil it with all that stress, especially since it's still an awful way off and tough trips to both East Anglian clubs and Brentford await. I'd prefer to dwell on the fact that it's some time since such an entertaining run of performances from a Forest side.

I was also heartened by Freedman's pre-match interview. In some respects it was the sort of interview you'd like to hear from Fawaz. He was positive, enthusiastic and knowledgable whilst realistic to the challenge ahead. It sounds like he's effectively drawn up a 'business plan' for the future on how to recruit and develop under the limitations imposed after breaking the FFP spending limits. It's something that you doubt anyone else involved in the club has done, save maybe for a piece of paper in Fawaz's office somewhere with 'get to the Premier League' written on it.

I'm sold on Dougie now and I wish Fawaz would get on with confirming he will be with us next season. With the embargo looming over us we'll need to be super smart in the transfer market. Targets need to be identified now and chased as soon as possible. We need a plan and Freedman is clearly a man with a plan. His long-term stay on Trentside really shouldn't be dependent on him pulling off some unlikely promotion miracle. Days like this have earned him the right to try to deliver in the long-term, it's time that common sense prevailed.

Dougie Freedman? Everything he touches turns to goals

I don't know if Dougie Freedman has a middle name but it ought to be Midas.

I was underwhelmed at his appointment, a feeling not really dispelled by John McGovern offering the explanation of 'he was available' when asked why he was chosen to succeed Stuart Pearce.

Still, football moves on quickly and here I am, six games later, the opposite of underwhelmed (whelmed??!) by what the Scot in the hotseat has served up.

Six games, five wins, 19 goals and just one yellow card to boot. Given how obsessed everyone is by stats these days he's probably tempted to call it quits now, preserving an 83% win rate.

This latest victory will live long in the memory of the travelling Trickies - largely because it served up three top class strikes to overthrow the shellshocked Royals.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Freedman's tenure so far is how he's kept his good start going in spite of a number of number of challenges. £5m star striker injured? No problem - Dougie rejuvenates Dexter Blackstock and finds a new focal point for the attack. Blackstock struggling to make three games in a week after coming in from the cold? No problem, a quick tweak to our approach and Matty Fryatt comes in to lead the line. Defence out of form and fitness? Dougie digs out Danny Collins and gets him playing his best games in the Garibaldi. Jack Hobbs injured? Jamaal Lascelles slots in for the most assured performances he's put in for a year. Three captains missing (Cohen, Reid and Hobbs)? Lansbury fills the leadership void and thrives with the armband. Key midfield fulcrum struggling to make three games in a week? Mancienne makes up for Gardner's absence in a deep midfield role with a tidy display.

I've heard it said that Freedman has succeeded by 'keeping it simple'. That's maybe true in the way that he's settled on a formation that works in the Championship and that plays to the strengths we have on the wings. However, go back to that list above and you'll see that he's hardly had an easy ride of it. He may have mapped out a solid and effective shape but that job - amid all the issues he's faced - has been far from simple.

With Mancienne, Osborn and Lansbury as the starting midfield trio, the action at the Madejski began firmly in Forest's favour. Osborn stood out with his purposeful running, tigerish work rate and smart passing as Reading dropped deep. Maybe Steve Clarke's men were buoyed by their results at Ipswich and Derby and wanted to play this as an away game? Still, this looked a little alien to us - probably as we were still recovering from not having a lot of the ball against Bournemouth - and there was just a skewed Osborn effort and a blazed Antonio strike to show for our early endeavours.

Reading then woke up. Everything they did all afternoon came through the former Reds duo of Gunter and McCleary on the right. I actually thought Danny Fox stood up well to the test but, with little or no help from the disappointing Paterson, the crosses and chances started to come in the second part of the first half. The first two were spurned by Simon Cox - one of their own they sung as though it a good thing. As those chances went begging and his game disappeared into all-too-familiar anonymity the Forest faithful were only too happy to remind the hosts he was, indeed, one of their own. The other two chances were thwarted by an ever alert Lascelles - the first a block to divert a Pogrebnyak effort wide and the second a clearance off the line to deny McCleary.

Safely back in the dressing room at 0-0, the Midas manager struck again. Seeing that Paterson was struggling he brought on Chris Burke and it almost immediately paid dividends. The Scottish winger's first foray down his flank caused havoc and instantly gave notice of our greater threat. His introduction also meant Michail Antonio switched to his preferred left flank and put him up against Chris Gunter, who didn't seem to relish the problems posed by the power and pace of the man who was plucked from non-league by Reading.

Still, the game required a touch of class to tip it properly in favour of Freedman's men. It came from the boot of Ben Osborn. The Sheep Slayer deliciously curled in a long range effort past a stranded Adam Federici. He was so nonchalant about it at first that we didn't quite believe it had gone in. I guess he's getting used to this. It was a sublime strike though and capped off what was, for me, a man of the match display.

Antonio then turned back the clock to last week, powering past a succession of players before letting fly with an effort that, unlike against Bolton, whistled wide. Reading weren't done yet though. Darlow denied Pogrebnyak with a smart save and Gunter fired over a dangerous cross that evaded everyone as it fizzed through the six yard box.

Our attacking play was much swifter and sharper in the second half though and when the ball broke to Antonio as the clock approached 70 minutes he burst forward again - this time releasing Fryatt who twisted and turned his way into the box before doubling the lead. His boss, no doubt biased by his goal poaching past, rated this his favourite of the three we scored all afternoon.

My favourite, however, came from the boot of substitute Gary Gardner. He was sent on to replace the tiring Fryatt with Antonio moving up front (for five minutes before Blackstock came on for Antonio we played with no strikers - who knew Dougie was the Scottish Guardiola eh?). Gardner looks like a proper footballer - the sort of underrated but talented midfielder who graced Trentside in the late 80s and early 90s. For this cameo he wasn't the deepest midfielder of the central trio and so had licence to roam. And roam he did, right up to 35 yards out from goal, when he let rip with a thunderbolt that satisfyingly kissed the underside of the bar on its way in.

In a nerdy way we ought, really, to have been almost as impressed by what followed. With ten minutes to go we witnessed a well organised solid unit keep its shape, keep working hard and shut out Reading in their quest for a consolation effort. No one even 'fed the Yak', who I'm not sure had a kick when he came off the bench. It was disciplined and just what we'd been missing under Pearce. Lichaj was flawless, Collins and Lascelles looked a good blend of experience and youth, having both previously had their fair share of shaky moments in the past year or so, and Lansbury and Mancienne worked their socks off to make sure the battle was won.

The contrast was even more stark for me given that I only get to the occasional away fixture. The last time I saw the Reds on the road was at Huddersfield. Not only was the result the exact opposite that time out but the performance was markedly different too. We were a shambles across the back and looked vulnerable every time the Terriers came forward. We couldn't get a foothold in the midfield and offered little or no attacking threat.

This also ended my own Reading hoodoo. I'd previously seen us put to the sword 1-0 on Good Friday 2003 as the play-offs loomed under Paul Hart and then again 3-0 a few months later in the early part of the disappointing following season. By then a frustrated Hart explained his only 'plan B' would be to throw Michael Dawson up front, so stretched were his resources. My next two visits were largely forgettable early season draws, a 0-0 in 2009 and 1-1 in 2010. It seems it took the Midas touch to break that duck.

So there it is. Freedmania runs wild. Let's hope for more sunshine, moonlight and good times from Dougie. And don't spoil it for yourself by stressing about the play offs. It's sobering to think that Billy's second coming brought a run of six successive wins after an initial draw. That was at a similar stage of the season when we couldn't quite chase down an impossible dream. Pearce also began with an identical points record to Dougie from his first six games.

Freedman's 'super six' have been more entertaining and convincing than either of those two runs, particularly Pearce's. He'll have more challenges thrown his way in the weeks to come and won't always be able to rely on the sort of long range raspers that Osborn and Gardner cracked in on Saturday. Still, given the way he's begun, we should stop being surprised if and when he finds the answer to any predicament to come.