Review of March – a mixed bag of results
31/03/05 | by Adam Gray

The FA Cup quarter finals and the latest round of World Cup qualifiers has meant that it has been pretty quiet for us in the last couple of weeks, which also means that Forest remain exactly where they were a month previously; in the bottom three but with a game in hand.

Although we haven’t played very many games ourselves this month, the teams around us have, and are trying to make it a little bit easier for us to escape; as I write, not even 15th placed Watford are safe yet. They are just four points above the bottom three and have just sacked Ray Lewington. With so many teams still battling for their lives, It’s going to be an interesting battle.

As for our own performances, I think it is fair to say it’s been a mixed bag. A point at home to Wigan was as good as we could have hoped for, especially when you consider that it came just after our 6-0 capitulation against a very impressive Ipswich team. Earlier in the season, we might have let that 6-0 scoreline affect the next few performances and we might not have picked up points for a long while, so it’s good to see that we put it to the back of our minds and picked up a valuable draw.

Two reasons to be very optimistic are that we not only picked up our first away win of the season – a terrific 1-0 win over Leicester – but also our second away win – three days later at Watford, 2-0. Of course, we couldn’t complete the hat-trick at Portman Road, but the less said about that, the better. It's results such as these two that signify why the relegation fight is going down to the last few games of the season. 

Another positive note is that Gary Megson didn’t see it appropriate to make any transfer deadline day signings. At least he thinks this squad is good enough as it is to stay up. There is also talk of Jack Lester making a return this season, so let’s hope he has no more problems on his return to full fitness.

Forest have eight matches to save themselves, seven of them are in April. Next we visit Crewe, then a crucial game away at Coventry. We then host Plymouth – another six pointer – then entertain Sheffield United, a game in which there should be a hot atmosphere. Then it’s Reading away, Burnley at home and QPR away.

Let’s hope we can do enough in April to keep ourselves up. I don’t think I could take the nerves of it going to the last game of the season, Gillingham at home. It’s gonna be a long way to safety, but I think we are good enough to survive – just.

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