Nottingham Forest Review

Twenty-two years ago Nottingham Forest were European Cup Holders for the second time in their history. Crewe Alexandra were languishing in the basement of English football. It would have been impossible to think that these two clubs would be playing one another in a competitive league game back then, so it shows both the dramatic rise of our club and the fall from grace of Forest in the last two decades.

We welcomed Paul Hart’s highly rated Nottingham Forest side to the Alexandra Stadium hoping for an improved performance from our lads after the events of Tuesday night, when a rampant West Ham United outclassed us in every department. To be honest I did not expect much from this game – Forest are genuine promotion contenders – so a point would have been welcomed with open arms. However, come 5:45 I was just a little pleased!

I think Forest were taking the three points for granted, one things for sure, they weren't expecting to be totally outclassed by a Crewe side who were in turn outplayed by the Hammers in midweek in an unconvincing display.

We were tipped for relegation and Forest promotion prior to the season, but we were undoubtedly the better team today. David Vaughan, Kenny Lunt, Steve Jones and Dean Ashton stuck out but the team as a whole performed superbly to elevate us to tenth position in Division One.

Anthony Tonkin was relegated to the substitutes bench after his solid debut against the Hammers as Welsh Wizard David Vaughan shook off the toe injury that forced him to sit out of Tuesday's game.

I was impressed with the new boy against West Ham. Considering he has played very little first team football and having to put up with a baptism of fire against one of the division's superior sides, he coped very well. Dario has a bit of a headache concerning the left hand side. Ben Rix has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks, Vaughan is a pivotal part of the side (as he showed against Forest) and the club have shelled out for Tonkin who looks to be a good player. Tonkin, Vaughan and Rix can’t all fit into the two left hand spots, but I'm sure Dario will get it right though. He always does!

The boss certainly got it right today. An inspirational and promising Crewe side tore apart the promotion hopefuls in a rampant second half that Gradi hailed as 'the best performance in my managerial career.'

After Marlon Harewood had put the East Midlanders ahead on 53 minutes, it was all one-way traffic as Crewe (with an average age of just 23) completely dominated and took hold of the game with awareness, technical brilliance and acute skill. The way our lads responded was out of this world. To make Forest look ordinary, even bad is no mean feat.

Firstly Kenny Lunt showed why Dario Gradi holds him in such high regard with a customary curling free kick that fooled Darren Ward, who never even acknowledged it as it whizzed past him into the Gresty Road End net. Dean

Paul Hart realises Forest's fate

Ashton, so inspirational over the past few games, powered his header into the net with utmost confidence following skipper Brammer’s pinpoint cross. Steve Jones, who has been so unlucky in front of goal, pounced on Ashton’s thunderous effort that hit the bar late on to wrap up three well deserved points that defied belief.

Forget the lack of strikers; no matter how far anyone else refuses to take us seriously we are capable of so much more than staying up this season.