Match report: Davies sounds alarm bells at Forest

THIS was a tactical battle, fought out with great guile and intelligence, where the opposition never quite managed to pin the home team down amid an entertaining, end-to-end affair.

Unfortunately for the fans of Nottingham Forest, this is not a description of the action out on the City Ground pitch on Saturday, but a summary of an incredibly telling post-match conversation with the press in which Billy Davies, a frustrated fireball of a man, succeeded in getting his stark, dark message across without really saying anything at all.

Had his side demonstrated the same level of cunning and determination on the pitch, it was a speech that might not have been necessary. As it was, this 3-1 defeat brought Davies to boiling point, as – through a handful of carefully chosen words amid a tennis match exchange with a handful of media – he sent out a blunt, clear message to the club's hierarchy.

It may have been delivered calmly and with a smile, and with nothing in the way of dissent towards those that pay his wages, but the underlying tone was deadly serious.

Had chairman Nigel Doughty not realised the magnitude of the situation as he and chief executive Mark Arthur watched the one-sided, embarrassing encounter unfold via an internet link in the Dominican Republic, they will be left in no doubt of their manager's opinion this morning.

And that is that, quite simply, this Forest squad may not be equipped to keep the club in the Championship.

It was not strong enough to provide any meaningful opposition to a Derby County side that, prior to the arrival of Nigel Clough, had been falling headlong into a relegation dogfight of their own.

For Forest fans this was a humiliating afternoon as, for a second time in a few weeks, their most fierce rivals were allowed to return along Brian Clough Way victorious, having notched up a comfortable, one-sided win.

But, once the pain and humiliation of defeat dies down, Forest fans will only be left to contemplate a worrying future, following a run of six games without a win that has begun to expose the fragility and lack of depth in resources.

The biggest source of discontent for Davies is that he is still being asked to operate with the same group of players, following a January transfer window in which at least six players were identified as potential signings – but none were secured.

In the club's defence, there are mitigating factors, in that in the likes of Dele Adebola, Lee Croft and Rob Jones, Forest were targeting players whose clubs were not keen to part company with.

And, the offers Forest made – £400,000 for Croft, a player who is out of contract at Norwich in the summer, £600,000 for Jones, the Hibs skipper, who was keen to move south and somewhere in the region of £400,000 for Adebola, a player who was also coming to the end of his contract at Bristol City – seemed more than reasonable.

But, as Davies questioned, could Forest have done more?

With hindsight, it certainly looks like it may have been worth going that extra mile, at a time when landing loan signings appears to be even more of a challenge in a climate when Premiership wages seem to be a stumbling block and fellow Championship clubs appear, understandably, unwilling to help out one of their rivals.

And there is no question that Forest's ability to sign players on loan in the coming weeks – if not days – will be decisive in the battle against relegation. Forest do have good players. They just do not have enough of them.

And, while those senior players who are available battle away, they are exposed by the fragility and inexperience of those players who are being asked to fill the gaps when it comes to injury problems.

Prior to kick-off, Forest fans will have been lifted by the inclusion of Robert Earnshaw and Paul Anderson on the team sheet. But that was a decision made more out of desperation than logic, as Davies asked both players to make a hasty return from injury.

Indeed, had Earnshaw been a little sharper, the outcome of this match may have been different, as, with his reactions still dulled by his time on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, he spurned two early chances.

But that was one of few chinks of light on an afternoon when there can be no argument that Derby deserved victory.

Such was the one-sided nature of this match that the outcome was effectively sealed in the fifth minute, when Lewin Nyatanga bundled home from close range, after Kris Commons had delivered a dangerous free-kick into the box.

Defending set-pieces was an obvious Achilles' heel for Forest and, when Robbie Savage bent another free-kick to the edge of the six-yard box early in the second half, Rob Hulse glanced a precise finish home.

When James Perch shoved Hulse in the back, it provided Steve Davies with the chance to sink the Reds from the penalty spot. And, while it was well-taken, even a firm headed goal from the returning Earnshaw, late in the game, was not enough to provide much consolation.

In the end, it was enough to prompt sympathy from Rams boss Clough, who admitted he had intentionally watched the match sat on a perimeter wall in the shadow of an 'away dugout' sign, just to remind him that he was no longer fighting the Forest cause.

"I honestly hope that Forest survive," said Clough. "I hope we are playing them in the Championship next season."

But, hope, rather than expectation, is the key word at the moment.

Because a quick glance at the fixture list does not provide much cause for optimism, with six of the next seven games pitching Forest against sides with promotion ambitions, starting with a trip to Reading on Saturday.

Survival is not an impossible task for Forest. But they need to be given the tools for the job. When he arrived, Davies said that new additions were urgently required for Forest to avoid being sucked into the bottom three.

More than six weeks later and the manager has not made a single new signing. He is too wily, too experienced to make much of a song and dance of that fact in public.

But if his thoughtfully chosen words were not enough to expose the significance of that failure in the transfer market, it is there for all to witness, through a glance at the league table.

paul.taylor@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk