lost that loving feeling - We came, we lost and it hammered it down

Never did I think it would get this bad – I am writing after the defeat to Swindon Town and I feel deflated. I went to Saturday’s game full of optimism. I went to the Huddersfield game and was impressed with the organisation and the application of the new signings. By all accounts we were robbed on Tuesday night at Walsall, but at the end of the day, did we ever expect to win there? So, despite that result, I still went optimistically to the County Ground.

Setting off from home in South Wales, it was hammering down already. The girl on the local radio station aptly described the weather as “minging” and it only got worse the further east we went. We arrived in Swindon and inevitably got lost. We drove up and down Great Western Way for about an hour! It was pathetic. We finally found the ground and parked in the cricket club. By what I had seen of Swindon so far it looked a dive and the ground wasn’t much better.

Their ‘superstore’ was literally the size of my bedroom and the hot-dog I had was about to play havoc with my digestive system. We made the mistake of going in the ground early because there was nothing around. We walked in and my dad’s reaction was “I’ve gone back 20 years”. We were standing on the Stratton Bank. Seven days earlier, Dad thought it would be nice to stand in the uncovered sunshine. Well done, Dad! I went to the bogs at one point to see 100s of Forest fans sheltering from the rain. I was wet, I was going to get wetter – ‘I might as well go out and face it’ was my attitude. Finally, kick-off came and the chance to applaud was greatly appreciated, more due to the fact I could warm my hands.

The game started and our fans were in great voice. I had only been away once before, to Reading last year, but I much prefer away games. Their so-called hard core were situated as far away from us as possible. The only noise was coming from us lot and, on about 20 minutes, they decided to sing “Shall we sing a song for you?” As you can guess, we all burst out laughing. The rest of the match they were quiet apart from a few occasions they tried to murmur something that none of us could understand. Then around the half hour mark they had their first chance. A poor back-pass let in Fallon who scuffed his shot, much to our relief. It only delayed the inevitable. As the fans in the Arkells Stand sung “Stand up if you’re nice and dry” our misery was not only compounded by the weather, but their first goal. But they still didn’t sing.

Minutes later a hopeful cross found Taylor’s head and Commons skipped inside one defender and scored. At bloody last! I was so wet by now I found it extremely difficult to raise my arms. I have never been Taylor’s biggest fan and I never will be. He won very little in the air as he did the previous weekend. Even when DJ came on he won more in the air and he’s five foot and a fart.

The first half finished. Too cold and wet to move, I turned to Dad and said: “We’ve got to win now; there is no way we can stand here and watch them lose.” How wrong I was! The boys came out and looked the better side. But that seems the problem at the moment – we seem to be dominating but not scoring. When DJ came on after 65 minutes, we thought that may make the difference. It didn’t and seven minutes later they got what proved to be the winner. We still cannot defend a set-piece!

To sum-up our luck, Curtis went of injured and we played with 10 men for 10 minutes. And then one of our fans got escorted out because a chav-looking 12-year-old thought he’d be cool and wind up the Forest fans, although that was more interesting than what was happening on the pitch.

Four minutes of stoppage time was indicated. We could have had 104 minutes and we still wouldn’t have scored. I left after two of those minutes safe in the knowledge another three points had been lost. How in the world did we contrive to lose against Swindon, a side who, by their own admission, have defensive problems and had three chances all afternoon?

Where do we go from here? I suppose the positive is we are having a crisis now and not in April. As has been stated before, it will be difficult, but the play-offs are the bare minimum. I think we should put Taylor at the back. He’s club captain so Megson is not going to drop him, but when he was put there last season, we stopped conceding. Their striker Fallon was crap, but with Taylor at the other end, he was made to look world class. And take DJ off the transfer list, and start him.

I know the crowd don’t pick the team, but we are deserved an apology for suffering that on Saturday and our views should be known. Nicky Eaden was beaten all too easily and I suppose if he had still been at Wigan, Arjen Robben would have had a field day on Sunday. We were poor, except for a ten-minute spell around half-time and the players have to put their hands up and admit they were as bad as the weather. Scunthorpe at home next Saturday is now a massive game. It seems premature, but we cannot lose pace even at this stage or we will be in for a long season.