Davies - Seen It All Before

Although Nottingham Forest fell to their third successive away defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers yesterday, the 1-0 scoreline still sees the Reds' handily placed in the table. Just 5 points separate Forest from top of the pile Newcastle and a mere 4 points off 2nd placed West Brom.

For some supporters, the defeat is a sure sign that the wheels have well and truly fallen off the runaway train, that took us up to the dizzy heights of 2nd in the table. For manager Billy Davies, it's all par for the course and nothing more than an obstacle in his way to guiding the club back to the Promised Land of the Premiership.

His post match comments made for a reality check, for those of us that thought this season was going too well. Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham, Davies said. 'At the moment, we are having a few little things going against us. I told that to the players. Over a season, there are good times and there are bad times, but we're sitting in the top three at the moment. the players need to enjoy the good times and the bad times. I've been through it all before.'

Putting the Derby game aside, Forest have actually played well enough in the games over Coventry and Rovers to have won them. Both games saw a catalogue of missed chances and a few decisions go against us. The players were certainly guilty of squandering chances at the Keepmoat and on another day, refereeing decisions would have gone our way.

Whilst we can't blame all our current problems on the lack of an out and out left back, it has to be noted that since the departure of Nicky Shorey, the team hasn't looked as fluent and confident, as it did with him in the side. Billy Davies has made his feelings on that problem very clear to the club, it's now up to them to provide him with the solution to solving it. Until that happens, we should perhaps trust in Billy to do his job. As he himself says, he's seen it all before.

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