A chance to shine on screen
07/10/05 | by Elliot Stanley

Something tells me this Sunday is a turning point. I don’t know why – it’s unexplainable – but something is making me genuinely excited by this game; a feeling that has long been missing from my weekend football ritual. What’s round the corner we are about to turn is yet to be determined, perhaps the excitement is misguided fear, maybe deep down I am conscious of what a defeat will do to us, especially in terms of what it’ll do to the gap between us and the top two. But of course we have to account for optimism too so maybe, just maybe, something special is going to happen. 

Live on TV, against the early pacesetters, probable a chance to break into the top six. The incentives are there. The question, though, remains: Is the desire, passion and talent there? The answer is, as you may expect, a mixture of yes, maybe and no. Some players display an abundance of passion with little talent, others the reverse.

What is encouraging is that, recently, the mix has been about right to stop us getting beaten. Now we need to apply just a little extra sprinkling of magic to really bring out the flavour. Commons always looks inventive but we need him to step up another gear on Sunday, from inventive to majestic. Friio needs to upgrade from improving game by game to commanding and probing centre midfielder. Johnson needs to go from workmanlike to inspired, accurate and deadly. The list goes on, but what’s important to note is that although, on paper, these transformations sound a big ask – some would say fanciful – they are not. 

Football is played physically on grass but mentally on confidence; what confidence can do to improve a player is miraculous. What it can do in reverse is even harder to believe. We are, now, on the upward journey in the confidence stakes, we are hard to beat, and the players will go out and believe they can’t lose – that’s why the goal went in against Blackpool to rescue a point. We were awful yes, but not beaten. Tranmere, awful, but not beaten and we snatched victory. 

On top of these rather scrappy, cement-splattered foundations we need to start placing ornate bricks; the type people like to look at as well as them having a practical purpose. Sunday is the chance to not only do this but to get a 2-for-1 bargain from the confidence warehouse. You get confidence from any victory, but if we go out and play well against Southend – defend solidly and attack with purpose and style – we’ll take a massive leap towards our season’s aims. 

I’m not for one moment saying this is what I expect to happen – I’m far too well versed in the topsy turvy world of Nottingham Forest to be that stupid – but it’d be good if it did, wouldn’t it? A little snippet of the old times recreated in League One format. My memories aren’t of European Cup victories – I’m too young. They are of the early days of the Premier league, when Sky cameras first rolled into town. Stan Collymore cracking in a stunner to cancel out one from Andrei Kanchelskis at the City Ground, hammering a sorry Wimbledon 4-0 on Monday Night Football. They were the days for me and this is our chance; making it our day could make it our season. Turn on, tune in and believe.