lost that loving feeling - It's a kind of Magic

Well the FA Cup has come and gone for Forest this season. After Saturday's disappointing result against Sheffield United, Paul Hart's young guns will have to concentrate on the league and maybe become the surprise play-off package.

I always enjoy the FA Cup when it comes around. It's a time when all teams have a hope of doing well and beating one of the big guns in the country. No matter which club your drawn against you always feel you have a chance of beating your opposition. Unfortunately we don't have the best of records in the greatest cup competition in the world.

For the last few seasons we haven't got very far in the cup at all. Last year we lost in the 3rd round to Wolves at the City Ground and the season before that Forest were knocked out in the 4th by Chelsea after finally beating Oxford in a replay. This season was no exception. A 3rd round defeat at the hands of Sheffield United ensured that our poor record in the competition continued.

The club needed a decent cup run this season for financial reasons. Our current off-the-field problems have been well documented and it would have been nice to get some much need cash via the FA Cup. This competition can also be a huge boost for a club and its supporters. The excitement builds up when this time of year comes around and when your knocked out it's a major disappointment and that's how I feel now.

Anybody who says the cup has lost its magic is talking rubbish. When the competition starts every fan up and down the county is dreaming of a good run. The chance of playing the big guns is a major attraction for a lot teams and when the draw is made you can't help but feel excited. When 3rd round day comes along the excitement increases and you start to dream of what could happen. The FA Cup is all about dreams and the magic the competition generates is fantastic and it still has a lot of life in it yet.

The performance of the team at the weekend was disappointing. Not many of the players even had an average game. This was the worst display Forest have put out this season. The only players, which had a decent game, were Darren Ward, Jon Olav Hjelde, David Prutton, Tony Vaughan and Stern John. The rest of the lads had a bad day and hopefully they will get back to the way they were playing over the Christmas period. The passing wasn't brilliant and at times we looked very poor. Some of the younger players are starting to feel the effects of a long and hard season not to mention the Christmas period and maybe they are in need of a rest to regain the form they showed at the start of the campaign. The problem for Paul Hart is who does he replace them with?

Against Sheffield United I felt that we were a little too negative. For a cup tie you may as well go at the opposition and try and score a few goals because it's a one-off game and you have nothing to lose. However, Forest didn't seem to do enough attacking. I could understand it if it was a league match, but in the cup surely you must try and get more men forward and have more efforts on goal. However the team is still progressing and I'm sure they will have learnt a lot from this game.

The support Forest received at Bramall Lane was as usual, fantastic. I was sat in the upper tier and the atmosphere was superb. The attendance for the match was 14,696 and at least 4,000 were Forest fans. I really enjoyed the atmosphere although the result didn't go the way we wanted it to, let's make sure that in two weeks time we go to Bramall Lane and make as much noise and hopefully the result will be better.

There's still no need for doom and gloom around the club despite our cup exit. We've been playing very well over Christmas and Paul Hart has hinted he believes that if the lads continue their good league form we may be a surprise play-off package. Results and performances have been brilliant over the festive period and if they continue to play well and work hard then maybe just maybe we might be able to move nearer the play-off spots and surprise a few people.

Paul Hart will be looking to continue our good league form when Barnsley visit the City Ground. The Tykes have recently changed their manager and it has worked as far as results are concerned. It will be a difficult game due to suspensions for Nicky Summerbee and Jack Lester but Forest have enough quality to overcome that problem and hopefully gain three valuable points.

Following the Barnsley match we have another away game at Sheffield United, this time in the league. The squad will be looking for revenge and a similar result to last season's league meeting at Bramall Lane when Forest won 3-1. We all know how difficult this encounter will be but I'm confident the result will be better this time around for the Reds.

Finally, although we are out of the cup look on the bright side, at least we didn't get knocked out of the competition by a struggling third division side like the sheep shaggers did. What was the score? 3-1 - enough said I think!

Keep the Red flag flying high!