JAMES Perch believes the unity in Nottingham Forest's young squad is helping compensate for a lack of depth.

Manager Billy Davies has made it clear he needs to strengthen, and that he is currently working with a depleted squad.

Julian Bennett, Guy Moussi and Paul Anderson are out long-term, while Chris Cohen, Joel Lynch and Wes Morgan missed Tuesday's 2-1 victory against Sheffield Wednesday.

Nathan Tyson, Ian Breckin and Robert Earnshaw suffered injuries in that game.

That means more young players are being forced into the team, such as left back Joe Heath.

But skipper Perch believes squad's closeness is helping them through, seeing them to four successive Championship wins to move them to 17th, four points clear of the bottom three.

The 23-year-old captain said: "We might not have the depth that some squads have but we are all top friends, and it just shows that unity that can go a long way.

"We are all young and we all go round to each other's houses. There is only Brecks that travels, and that is only from Rotherham.

"All the others live in Nottingham. We are all Nottingham lads, we all love the club and we all want to do well.

"We are all close and after training nobody just shoots off to do this, that or the other.

"We all see each other round West Bridgford or in town. We all have each other's numbers and are always ringing each other up."

Perch believes that has helped Forest's young players stick together despite being in the bottom three for so long this season.

But with the squad thin, Perch said he would welcome new additions to add competition for places.

"There might be players coming in and that makes it healthier," he said.

"It helps grow confidence and hopefully we can kick on. If we have that depth we can rest players, cope with injuries and not worry so much about having people on bookings."