lost that loving feeling - Optimism is a funny thing

Optimism is a funny thing, especially in the football world – people who are generally pessimists transform to display unfounded belief of titanic proportions. Six points from safety with two games to go? Of course you will stay up! This is not something that surprises me as its only human that the desire for your team to do well spills over into optimism – we don't genuinely believe we will win every time we watch our team, sometimes we know we are up against it, but that pride, passion and unbridled want for your boys to achieve will always override any realism lurking in the depths of your mind. What is even more remarkable is the way moods change, the way small alterations in real life situations dramatically change our outlook on possibility and expectations.

Nothing displays this more than the recent two games played by our boys down on Trentside. At 3pm last Saturday our manager was close to the chop, we were on the verge of certain relegation to Division 4 and someone was going to come round and burn down all our houses until life was unbearable.

9.35pm Tuesday, less than 79 hours later, and life is rosy, relegation worries are laughed off, Megson is now our king, at least that is what we will sing when we get promotion or so the song goes (for the record I have banned myself from joining in with the rest of the Upper Bridgford in this particular chant until we are mathematically certain of going up, should this ever occur), Jack Lester actually is The Lord Jesus Christ reborn and we'll be back in Europe in no time.

So how will we feel come Monday morning? This of course is up to Megson and his (now merry) men. It's not an easy way to live, having your moods determined by 11 men and a ball but unfortunately for myself and I suspect many others there is little or no choice involved so you just get on with it and pray to the aforementioned Lord for a victory, thankfully he now plays for us as well so all looks good on that front from now on.

On a more down to earth note it is excellent to see the optimism that’s emanating from all areas of the club, the 'team' ethic I was talking about only a week ago may just be beginning to show its head. The important thing is to make a good showing on Saturday and if the result goes our way then great but if not there is a chance to put it right on Tuesday against Blackpool. The one major worry is how our defence cope with Lee Trundle, a superb lower league striker capable of not only scoring goals but diverting attention while someone else bangs them in – displayed well by the fact that Swansea's goals have come form no fewer than 9 different players so far.

On a Forest front we are struggling with injuries – Thompson who has looked good in the past two games is unlikely to be fit, which is consistent with his career, bit of a Darren Anderton by all accounts. Padula reportedly faces a late fitness test, which would be a boost. I have made clear my feelings on Jack Lester in previous articles and I don't want him to get carried away with all the praise so lets just hope it continues – his main role this weekend will be to provide an outlet to relieve the defence, this could be Johnson's weekend for a goal or two.

Who knows, a victory and the Championship could be almost in the bag and we can start planning ahead to decide how we will develop the main stand when we get back into Europe and also whether we should play 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 when we get back to the Premiership. Optimism is a funny thing aint it!