Burns: Earnshaw must pay the penalty

IF Nottingham Forest get a penalty at Birmingham tomorrow night in their FA Cup replay, I have one message to manager Billy Davies and his players.

For goodness sake, please do not let Robert Earnshaw get his hands on the ball.

I mean, it happened nine days ago at the City Ground but it is still grating on me.

The original third round tie ended goalless but the Welshman had the chance from the penalty spot to win the tie.

There would be no need for replays, there would no need for an extra fixture in the freezing cold in the West Midlands. Instead, they would already be looking forward to a fourth round trip to Everton.

But when he got his chance, he produced a silly, slow run up before blasting the ball over the bar when Joe Hart had already committed himself, diving off to his left.

That was bad. However, the fact he had done it earlier in the season against promotion rivals West Brom makes it even worse. On that occasion, he produced a fancy run up, waited for Scott Carson to commit but still fired wide.

Forest lost the game 1-0 and at least a valuable point and last week his miss cost them a place in the next round of the FA Cup.

He should not have been allowed to get his hands on the ball against Birmingham but after a second successive miss, not to mention the manner of it, he cannot be allowed to step up again.

I still cannot believe what I saw. He was trying to be flash, to be fancy when he stuttered and swaggered up to the ball. It was deja vu.

Those antics should be kept for the training ground, not in crucial games when you would pay for such an opportunity.

If I was one of his team-mates, I would have had more than a stern word and if he was to grab the ball again in a future fixture, I would wrestle him to the ground to ensure I got the ball off him before he could place it on the spot.

Put the ball down, pick your spot and hammer it in. It always worked for Alan Shearer and in our day, for John Robertson it was the same.

You do not get an extra goal for being fancy or any extra points. Just put the ball in the back of the onion bag and be done with it.

To be fair, Forest could have had that tie wrapped up before the penalty but they missed chances.

They played well and so did Hart in the Birmingham goal but you felt with a more ruthless edge, they could have been a couple of goals to the good before the penalty.

Now they will do it all again tomorrow night at St Andrew's and the prize is a trip to Goodison in the next round.

It will be a tough test, a really hard match but you still have to fancy Forest.

This is an extra fixture they did not want and with the prospect of extra time, it is the last thing they needed prior to a run of games that could see them really cement their position in the top three of the Championship – if not the top two.

It is a game they can win and with confidence from how they played in the original tie, plus being unbeaten away since March of last year, you would not bet against them getting the business done this time.

But my message is clear. If Forest win a spot kick tomorrow, keep Earnshaw well away.