Burns warning to Forest: Don't blow all the good work

WHAT a fantastic win for Forest at the Madejski Stadium. Yes, Reading are going through a little bad patch at the moment.

But for me, they are probably the best team in the league and I still fancy them to win the Championship.

So after such a bad slump, for Nottingham Forest to go there and keep a clean sheet and win the game is marvellous.

With the other teams winning at the bottom, it was an even more invaluable result.

They deserve the plaudits, the slaps on the back, the 'well done' messages.

They survived an early onslaught but emerged at the end worthy 1-0 winners and you have to take your hat off to the players and manager Billy Davies.

Enjoy the plaudits but my message is take the criticism as well when it comes your way.

It was a great win at Southampton before Christmas, well done there. It was a great win against Manchester City in the FA Cup in January, well done there.

But the defeat by Derby nine days ago was totally unacceptable. They deserved nothing and deserved all the criticism they got back then.

After plenty of doom and gloom, they are now enjoying a sweeter moment and I was delighted they got three superb points on Saturday.

However, the Championship is all about consistency. It is not about one great win, one superb Saturday afternoon.

It is all about performing week in, week out and that is what they need to do to survive this season.

It is no good basking in all the plaudits now and then throwing it all away against Preston tomorrow night and Swansea on Saturday.

It is about replicating the same gutsy attitude to keep another clean sheet and grind out another valuable three points.

And there is no excuse now. Yes, the squad is depleted. Yes, there are plenty of young players. But they have won at Reading.

That should give them all the confidence they need.

And it was great to see Guy Moussi return. It was earlier than expected, earlier than Billy Davies would have liked.

But needs must and it is great boost for everyone connected to Nottingham Forest and with more games, he will become even more vital to the team.

For now, they must draw confidence from Saturday. How can you not be buoyed after that?

I am delighted and now I just hope they can repeat it tomorrow night and on Saturday.

Consistency is key and there is no point undoing all the good work by being poor against Preston. So enjoy the moment, just make sure you create another positive memory tomorrow night.