Earnshaw buying into Davies' ethos at Forest

AS a man who was largely confined to the bench at Derby County under the tenure of Billy Davies and who has this season struggled to force his way into the first team at Nottingham Forest, some could speculate that Robert Earnshaw might not be the Scotsman's biggest fan.

But, while the striker makes no attempt to disguise his frustration at being left on the sidelines, his ire is not directed at his manager.

In fact, it is indicative of the current spirit at the club that he has actually completely bought into the Davies ethos.

This weekend Earnshaw hopes to make his return to the Forest squad when Bristol City visit the City Ground, after recovering from a calf injury.

And he believes he will be coming into a squad that has learnt an important lesson under Davies – how to be a success in the Championship.

When he arrived midway through last season, Davies' only goal was to steer the club away from relegation.

But now Earnshaw can see the straight-talking manager starting to have the same kind of impact as he had at Preston and Derby, where he repeatedly reached the play-off places in the division.

"You have different players and different mentalities at different clubs, so it is not going to be exactly the same formula here," said Earnshaw.

"The manager knows what he is doing, in terms of the formula for success in this division.

"You can see that. You can see the direction we are going in.

"And I want to be part of a Forest side that is moving in the right direction."

Earnshaw, in fact, begins to sound a little like his manager when he repeats the kind of message that Davies has been attempting to ram home for weeks now.

"We have some good players here and we just try to keep going and to do the right things, until we are looking down the barrel of the last two months of the season," said Earnshaw.

"It is still very early to be getting too carried away. We have had a good couple of months but we are still not near to where we want to be.

"We cannot be satisfied yet. We have to keep going to make sure we are where we want to be in the final months of the season.

"If we can stay within touching distance, then we have a chance. But that is a long way off."

Earnshaw has been impressed with Forest's performances during their seven-match unbeaten run, which they extended as Lewis McGugan's injury time strike earned them a 1-1 draw at Cardiff last Sunday.

But he believes the foundation for their success has been simple hard work and determination.

"It has been a month-and-a-half of grinding out results," he said.

"I was involved in the first three games, which we won, but not in the recent ones, due to my injury.

"We have just knuckled down and ground out results when, at times, you thought we were heading for a draw.

"We have gone out and done the right things and worked hard.

"The big thing is that we are not conceding many goals.

"We have gelled together to not concede goals as a team, as well as nipping in to pick up the odd important goal here and there at the same time to secure the results."

For Davies, Forest's recent results have been even more impressive, because of the injury problems they have had to contend with.

Providing he has not suffered any setbacks in training over the last few days, Earnshaw has a good chance of making the bench.

But the Welsh international striker's presence will be very much required as Nathan Tyson and Dexter Blackstock will both still be missing.

"We have got what we have got," said the manager. "I don't want to sound negative our downbeat.

"But the fact of the matter is that we had to put James Perch and Joel Lynch on the bench when they were not ready again, in the last few weeks.

"That is also why I brought on Luke Chambers to play in the centre of midfield against Palace, because we needed somebody to sit in there.

"That tells you where we are and what we have got.

"We have had Julian Bennett, Robert Earnshaw and a few others out and we are down to a thin squad of players.

"Hopefully we do not pick up any more.

"I do think we have been fortunate not to pick up any more problems, in fact."

And Davies is looking forward to having Earnshaw available again, hinting that he will soon add to the two Championship starts he has enjoyed so far this season.

"Dexter will be back after the international break. It is a huge loss for us because he was scoring goals and was leading the line brilliantly," said Davies.

"He is a player that this club cannot afford to lose for long periods.

"But it was also a massive loss to lose Earnie out of the squad."

On that front, there could be two men feeling just a little less frustrated tomorrow afternoon – provided the Welsh international's troublesome calf allows it.