Review of February – improving quickly
28/02/05 | by Adam Gray

February was Gary Megson’s first full month in charge of the club, and even though he has been here just a short time, it is visible that he is here for the fight and that he believes Forest are a side good enough to remain in the Championship.

Although our FA Cup exploits have ensured that we remain six points adrift of safety, albeit with two games in hand over our immediate rivals, I see no reason why we cannot get ourselves out of the relegation places. Not only has Megson realised that our squad wasn’t nearly strong enough in depth before his arrival, but he has also endeavoured to do something about it, bringing in an encouraging number of new faces over the course of the month. Each of them appear to have made good starts to their Forest careers, but of course let’s hope for even more from them.

He has also got the message across to the players that their previous performances were simply not good enough, and that they had to improve quickly. It is nice to see that the team has the character and the belief that has been lacking for most of the season. This was clearly shown in the Derby game on Saturday, where having fallen behind, we clawed our way back into it and in the end were unlucky not to pick up our second win in a week, after the brilliant result against Preston.

I must also take this opportunity to congratulate Kris Commons, who in recent weeks has played his best football of the season, and was very unlucky not to score a fantastic goal at Tottenham, one which would not have been too dissimilar to Ricky Villa’s effort in 1981. For this performance, Commons has also been named the Player of the Round by the FA, receiving almost half of the votes cast. I bet he, along with the rest of the team I’m sure, cannot wait to take on the Premiership side in the replay. Will Forest win? Why not? Stranger things have happened in the FA Cup!

It goes without saying that every game we have left in the league is vital, and March gives us a very tricky run of away games to start with. Our rotten away form this season (six draws and ten defeats) must surely improve soon and we will be hoping to prove our worth in this division as we travel to Leicester, Watford and Ipswich, before hosting Leeds, followed by leaders Wigan.

I have said it before, but I’ll say it again. This month could make or break our season.

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