Well what a difference a favourable result makes! The euphoria felt as Gareth Taylor headed into the top corner of the Trent End was something we’ve not experienced the like of since Johnno scored at Bramall Lane in the playoffs – and well, let’s hope this time it leads to something a bit better!

If you’d asked me at the start of the season what kind of game would be likely to spark that kind of reaction, I think beating Bradford at home 2-1 would have been quite far down the list – if it even made the final 100 scenarios – which just goes to show how much has collapsed this season.

I missed the Rotherham game, but the three games I’ve seen under Big Joe have not been pretty and have been frustrating in different ways – against Walsall we looked better at finding the net, but terrible at the back; against Gillingham we looked clown-like in defence at times, but kept a clean sheet, but were utterly toothless upfront; against Bradford, well, the midfield seemed to go missing far too often and Marlon showed he perhaps should have been a boxer rather than a footballer, Barry Roche showed that he is very naive, but spirit and determination won through – and Gareth Taylor took another step toward answering some of his critics with another injury time header, this time to get us three points and, more importantly, to elevate us from the drop zone. Better still, it put D*rby into it. Hurrah!

So, what can we draw from Joe Kinnear’s tenure of our beloved team? Well, it isn’t going to be dull! And whilst I’d have preferred nine points from the four games, I suppose we can’t grizzle at six, which is more than we got in the 15 games previous (shocking!). We’ve set ourselves up nicely now for a trip to Milton Keynes to see Franchise FC hopefully succumb to another irresistible defeat, and if we can pick up points against Gillingham and (hopefully) Palace then we’ll be looking in better shape.

At this point it’s survival of the fittest - we have to match (and hopefully better) the results Derby manage to chalk up and, all being well, this will see us not only remain above the accursed sheep, but start to catch up our rivals above us. So, with that in mind, it would it be worth considering the run-ins that both teams have:

Derby	Forest
Crewe (H) Rotherham (H) Watford (A) Forest (H) Blunts (A) Sunderland (A) Walsall (H) West Ham (A) Bradford (H) Preston (H) Burnley (A) Millwall (H) Wimbledon (A)	W’don (A) Gillingham (A) Palace (H) Burnley (H) Sheep (A) Crewe (H) Blunts (A) Stoke (H) Preston (A) Millwall (H) Ipswich (A) Wigan (H) WBA (A)

To me it looks as though D*rby have the slightly tougher run-in – but that’s probably because I view my world through Red-tinted glasses. Even if they do have a tougher run, they’re both similar and considering our similarities in league placing and points, it’s only fair to assume that we are of a similar standard at the moment. The one plus I can think of is that we’re on the start of an unbeaten run – four games unbeaten now, which isn’t something to scoff at, and could hopefully be the start of a longer run. 

But the more I think about it, unless the teams above us get sucked into the relegation mire (a very real possibility), the battle of Prideless Park on March 20 could prove absolutely pivotal in deciding the fate of Forest and D*rby this season – which makes for a scrappy game of football probably, but I must admit it also strikes me as the kind of game that Mr Kinnear would relish – which gives me a bit of hope.

I’m hopeful that Gillingham, Walsall, Watford or Burnley will get sucked down into it too to take some of the pressure off – because whilst it’s exciting it being ‘us or them’ in the bottom three, the risk of us being relegated, and being relegated because of D*rby, would be too much to bear – and if it meant we survived because both us and the Sheep managed to climb above one of the other low-lying teams then I’m all for it. Plus, funny as it would be to see D*rby relegated to Division Two (or whatever it will be called next season!), it wouldn’t be the same as having a couple of decent local rival matches.

But for us, the order of the day is to keep our own house in order. The trip to Milton Keynes after work on Tuesday gives me a chance to witness what could be two wins on the trot. MK Dons have lost 24 out of 32 games so far, and at home only won twice (drawing three times), so we have to fancy our chances – but not be complacent. 

I’m sure Joe Kinnear will relish the chance to put one over on his old club too, not that it much resembles the club under his tenure. I said before that I was a hopeless optimist by the time match-day comes around, but I think by going through the experience of writing it out and admitting it, I’ve cured myself. Now I’m a pragmatist, and thankfully being such doesn’t make the celebrations of winning a game finally any less jubilant – nor indeed the many pints consumed afterwards in celebration!