Nottingham Forest 1 - 0 Swindon Town

One of those games we're going to get from time to time: stubborn opposition and having to grind out a result which we ultimately managed to do today. That wasn't quite how I'd predicted today's game would go whilst discussing the game over pre-match beers, indeed I'd admitted to feeling that we might produce a scoreline more similar to that over Leyton Orient.

Mind you (as we found to our cost only a few weeks ago, Swindon have proved this season they're not the team we romped to a 7-1 win over exactly two years ago, and having quietly crept into tenth place ahead of today's game, that they're not in League One just to make up the numbers, even if we were a little too helpful for our own good by scoring goals for them, so maybe my optimism was a little misplaced.

If anything this game was rather like a colder version of last week's, albeit with a City Ground boosted by the Kids-for-a-Quidders which ultimately failed to lift the no familiar morgue-like atmosphere during the opening 45. Not that there was (yet again) much to get really excited about, just like the Millwall game last week. The main interest from a Forest point of view was the much-awaited return of Junior Agogo, having given an excellent account of himself in the African Nations and - more importantly - returned free of injury. With Holt ruled out through suspension and Hoskins having picked up a knock it was no surprise we'd see Tyson playing alongside Agogo - a thrilling prospect given the pace this pair have used to devastating effect this season.

Today's first half revolved around Forest (attacking the Trent End) looking to control the battle of midfield, which they made a pretty good job of, only for everything played into the final third to let them down. The passes were either stray, they were of the speculative kind - ie lobbed into an open space with no red shirt this side of Trent Bridge, or practically aimed at sundry defenders. With their backs to the Trent End to start with it took some time to get used to the names of the Robins players, most of whom sported names even more unpronounceable than your average Arsenal player, like Captain Hasney Aljofree (possibly easier to say Hold your fire). The busiest of these was Swindon 'keeper Peter Brezovan (probably easier to say Monkey Grab) who made light work of any ball hoisted into the box by anyone in a red shirt, closely followed by Miguel Comminges, easily recogniseable by his uncanny resemblance to Johnno.

You had to hand it to the Robins for the way they defended, and Johnno lookalike was constantly switching from left to right as if he was trying to take us on on his own and Commons and McGugan in particular were getting little change out of him, even from set pieces. Matt Lockwood (in for the suspended Bennett) was proving able keeping at bay any threat which came his way, but he looked distinctly lightweight going forward. Sammy was playing much deeper than we've been used to seeing him and this really came into its own when Wes had to leave the field clutching his head having sustained a nasty cut, and it was ten minutes before he reappeared, his head bandaged up in a similar style to Paul Ince during that World Cup qualifier ten years ago.

But despite Forest being by far the better side, yet another goalless first half it was. Not that we were the sole culprits. However bad our finishing was Swindon's was worse, the few times they managed to break, and I don't think I saw Smudge have to rise once from his deckchair all afternoon. Even so, not to be ahead at this stage awoke the dormant fans to spark the usual half time whistle unrest and a few murmurs.

Impatient? Well, yes maybe. Easy to say that in hindsight, especially since just five minutes after the restart we finally took the lead. Lockwood started the move by sending a ball through to Tyson playing wide down the left. Having already slipped his marker, Tyse then powered into the box and still from a relatively tight angle caught Monkey Grab off guard with a gap between him and the near post just wide enough to fire home. Relief this stubborn defence had been finally breached just didn't come into it!

Shortly afterwards we ought to have put the game to bed when, thanks to a well-worked move, McGugan found himself one on one with Monkey Grab just 12 yards out. Two up, surely. But McGugan appeared to have chosen today for his shooting skills to totally desert him when he'd created acres of space for himself, and instead of the net bulging the occupants of the Bridgford Upper were forced to duck hastily. Arguably the best chance of the game, along with the one when Tyson later turned provider for Agogo who ought to have done better than send the ball back across the goalmouth from just six yards.

With the abundance of pace we had this afternoon we ought to have had more to show from catching the Robins on the break. You couldn't deny we certainly tried this avenue, but a combination of some occasionally iffy timing by Tyson with some extremely iffy flagging for offside by the lino just served to frustrate. Added to that was the inconsistency shown by referee Foster who was starting to overlook crude tackles by them at a similar rate to which he was starting to enter Forest players' names into his notebook, and little wonder there was a barrage of booing waiting for him at the final whistle.

Eventually Tyson, troubled by what was suspected to be a recurring hamstring, was taken off to be replaced by Arron Davies who looked like he could benefit from a regular run and looked a little short of confidence and ball control skill seemed to desert him at times, although it has to be said he did look a little isolated up front, especially after Agogo had been replaced by Emile Sinclair with just over five minutes to go.

I wasn't at Elland Road midweek, but the general impression I got was that we played pretty well, which undoubtedly gave us a good lift going into today's game. That said, I still worry about how a better team than today's oppostion might have dealt with us - something we still have to contend with - more away from home than anything else, with difficult games at Brisbane Road, The Keepmoat and, more immediately, Brunton Park coming up, and we will have to play significantly better than this to maintain our march towards the automatic promotion spots. And since Doncaster's game against Leeds was called off (a rare occasion I wanted Leeds to win) along with Carlisle's game at Crewe, that at least puts pressure on others, which is fine as long as we concentrate on what we have to do, especially with four of the next five fixtures away from home. With Bennett and Holt back from suspension our resources will be boosted, though I hope Hoskins and Agogo will have a chance to at least be acquainted with each other by Tuesday.

It's been a good enough week. Coverage continues at Brunton Park on Tuesday. I'm hoping my visit there will be a lot happier than the one I made there twelve months ago. There's no reason why it shouldn't!

Ref Watch: D Foster - Inept and inconsistent.

Entertainment Value: The Kids-for-a-Quidders would easily have got their money's worth today, though the rest of us I suspect were probably struggling to stay awake by half time. Improved once the deadlock was broken, however as the game became more end-to-end. 6/10

Atmosphere: Pretty much the same as last week - things coming to life in the stands in the second half.

Highlights: Tyson eventually finding an opening to beat Brezovan in the one move which worked from start to finish; Good defending meant Smudge had virtually nothing to do.

Lowlights: Far too many passes finding either Brezovan in the box or Comminges a few yards ahead of him; Tyson facing another lay-off.

Stinker: No-one played badly today, although McGugan's shooting was well below his best.

Stormer: Wes and Wilson were solid at the back.