Sheff Utd away

Sheffield United away is a notoriously hard fixture for the Reds with everyone knowing they're a horrible side to play against with their ugly long ball football which Kevin Blackwell likes to play.

Forest battled away for a creditable draw in Sheffield, with the loss of Darius Henderson a massive blow for the Blades and a huge boost for Forest. Billy opted for three centre backs to deal with the barrage of long balls, putting Luke Chambers in to add some height.

Lee Camp was outstanding for Forest, pulling off a string of world class saves which contributed massively to Forest escaping with their incredible unbeaten away record intact. The pick of the bunch for me was when he denied Blades centre back Matthew Kilgallon when he clean through on goal and looked all but certain to score.

It was the first of two incredibly tough away fixtures this week, with the Reds facing a daunting trip to high flying Swansea on saturday, where their away record will again be under threat.

I went along to the Sheffield United game with a friend who wore a West Ham shirt with Tevez 32 on the back, which provided great side entertainment and pissed off many Sheff United supporters, the photo we cheekily took outside Bramall Lane is above.

5-1 on your big day out.

Wow. What a performance it was against Leicester on saturday. Got stuck into them from the start, and they just couldn't deal with Forest's intensity and work rate.

I've always rated Robbie Earnshaw as a top notch finisher and........... OK so i've been made to look like a mug again because he was brilliant on saturday. Three brilliantly taken goals as he showed what he's all about, ruthless finishing. As a critic i could ask why he doesn't put that sort of effort in every week, but him and the rest of them were a different class compared to Leicester.

That's the most enjoyable home game i've been to since Bristol City last year where Dexter scored that brilliant last minuter winner. Nobody realistically expected to hammer Leicester that hard and accompanied with the feel good factor that comes with an 11 game unbeaten run, everyone had a reason to be happy. The presence of the army troops also added a nice touch to the day, with the whole stadium showing their appreciation for their efforts in Afghanistan.

As we now sit in third in the league it's nice to look down and see teams like Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Cardiff City all having their struggles of late. All three teams will no doubt be rivals to Forest for the play-off places, so that makes the trip to Bramall Lane on tuesday even more important. Sheff Utd will have been dissapointed by their season so far, but victory over Forest will mean they'll only be 2 points behind Forest, showing that Forest have achived nothing but promise yet.

I'm looking forward to making the trip to Bramall Lane on tuesday night, but although many fans are buzzing right now and rightly so, let's not forget what a bitch of team Sheffield United have been to us down the years.

Goal Glut and Revenge Complete.

So, we did it. Almost a year on from the horror of Doncaster's last visit we buried the demons in emphatic style. An excellent performance with Raddy Majewski and Paul Mckenna outstanding for me in the middle of the park.

Doncaster are a good footballing side, they play some good football and there were times in th game where showed off their passing game, but ultimately we proved too strong.

It was nice to see Sean O'Driscoll getting so frustrated on the sidelines having had such a brilliant day at our expense last year.

It was an excellent victory, but it marks so much more in terms of improvement for The Reds. We notoriously struggle against Donny, especially through the League One years when we could barely even score against them yet alone pick up a result, so to beat them so convincingly is such a positive thing for the team.

Next week. Just the small matter of Leicester at home. Who are Derby County anyway? The fake East Midlands derby is a huge game for both sides, 3rd versus 4th in The Championship with Forest having the opportunity to jump Leicester if we can claim all 3 points.

The City Ground will be bouncing on Saturday. In my opinion it's the best team we've had since 03/04 when Paul Hart was in charge and it's definitely an exciting time to be a Forest fan.

Leicester have done brilliantly under Nigel Pearson and have surprised many to be flying so high in the league but i have no doubt Billy will fire up the boys to get stuck in from the start.

Leicester will bring their full allocation over the short distance, and no doubt Forest fans will turn out in their numbers.

And don't forget it's a 1 o'clock kick-off!