Nottingham Forest 1 Derby 0

If there is one thing everyone should have learnt over the past couple of seasons, it's that you can never predict how The East Midlands Derby will pan out. A couple of seasons ago Derby thrashed Forest 5-0 despite having not scored in the preceding 4 matches and last season Forest won 2-1 having not won in 8 games. It's that old cliche - 'form goes out the window' when it comes to local Derby's.

Before this encounter you would have struggled to find teams in more different form; Derby were on a 10 game unbeaten run, having won 8 of those whilst Forest hadn't won in 8 matches and were beginning to slip perilously close to the relegation places. Going into the match, Paul Clement made 2 changes from the team that pushed QPR aside in midweek; Stephen Warnock replacing the injured Craig Forsyth and George Thorne taking Jacob Butterfield's place in central midfield. I can't help but feel that Butterfield was a tad unlucky to be left out after playing well in midweek, but Thorne is one of those players who comes in automatically if he's fit.

As the game got underway under the floodlights I noticed that there were several thousand empty red seats around the City Ground, a sign of unhappiness at results on the pitch one can only assume. Forest started brightly, buzzing around Derby like Wasps to a rotten apple, not allowing anybody in a white shirt the time to settle on the ball. In the first minute former Ram Jamie Ward jinked his way past Warnock and fired the ball into Nelson Oliveira (on-loan from Benfica) who killed the ball on the spot. The onrushing Johnny Williams (on-loan from Crystal Palace) then charged onto it and proceeded to tumble under the challenge from Thorne. The referee then, much to the chagrin of the home crowd booked Williams for diving and the replays proved this to be the correct decision with Thorne's swinging boot going nowhere near him.

Nelson Oliveira celebrates his goal (Joesph Raynor)

Forest's early endeavour was rewarded in the 4th minute when they took the lead, although to say it was avoidable is an understatement. Chris Martin's stray pass was picked up in the Forest half and they proceeded to swarm forward. The ball was worked to Oliveira who's blocked first shot came straight back at him. At the second time of asking he moved the ball onto his left foot and his low shot was deflected by the sliding Richard Keogh and past a helpless Scott Carson in the net.

It was a punishing counter attack and one that would be repeated time after time over the rest of the evening, with varying degrees of success. Ward's left footed curling shot was tipped round the post by Carson after a neat give-and-go with Oliveira and Matt Mills had a goal from a corner disallowed for pushing in the box. At the other end much of Derby's play was looking laboured with Jeff Hendrick being the only man to try and work an opening, constantly looking to turn with the ball and run at the heart of the Forest defence. This would normally be great apart from the fact that the rest of the attack would do nothing to help him in these situations. Every single supporting run, whether it be from Russell or Andreas Weimann, was in a straight line making it easy to defend against. Saying that, Hendrick did clip the top of the crossbar with a curling 25 yard strike and Warnock whipped in a teasing cross that just eluded Chris Martin.

Other than that though, the first half was a tale of shots going high, shots going wide, shots going everywhere but in the net. The teams were unchanged going into the second half, but one would have expected at least a change in attitude from the Derby players, and we got one. Just not the right one. Whereas in the first half there was some urgency going forward, the same could not be said in the second half.  The passing was sloppy and every player was looking to take one to many touches on the ball. ON the red half of the pitch, Forest doubled down defensively, moving into 2 defensive banks content to let us have the ball, safe in the knowledge that we probably weren't going to do anything with it.

Matt Mills' header would be disallowed for a foul on Jason Shackell (skysports.com)

To put it mildly, the second half was a bit of a bore fest with the only real chances of note coming at Carson's net. Danile Pinillos was given the freedom of Derby's penalty area to just waltz in and fire the ball across net where Ryan Mendes (on-loan from Lille) was waiting to pounce. Somehow Warnock was able to get back and swipe the ball clear from under Mendes' feet. Mendes then produced a darting run with the ball, played a 1-2 with Henri Lansbury and received the ball in the box with no one near him. His scuffed shot however, did his run a disservice and was saved by Carson's outstretched leg.

All in all, a poor day at the office for Derby. I was impressed with Forest's willingness to make life difficult for us going forwards; pressing as a team and forcing us wide time and time again where they knew we would be less dangerous. Again, in attack they were also much more willing to gamble and their quick, snappy passing made life difficult for us. I was impressed by their loan players, especially with Oliveira and Mendes. Oliveira had a touch of class about him with his hold up play, whilst Mendes is exactly the sort of player who thrives in this league where raw pace can get you a long way. On the other hand, I can also see why they haven't scored many this season, most of their shots came from outside the box and when they got inside they were reluctant to shoot. The perfect example of the latter being when Warnock was able to nip the ball away from Mendes; all the winger had to do was step towards the ball and it would have been a certain goal. Defensively they were well drilled, but then again, having taken an early lead they were under no pressure to leave gaps for us to exploit.

Paul Clement tries to get his point across (nottinghampost.com)

Player Performances

Scott Carson - On first viewing I thought he could have done better for the goal, having been beaten at his near post. However the reply put me straight, showing the deflection off Keogh, nothing he could have done. Made some fine saves against Ward and Mendes, with a moment of madness when he tried to control the ball under pressure.

Cyrus Christie - A mixed bag to be honest. Going forward he was his usual aggressive self, but his decision making got worse and worse as the match wore on. Had a hard night defensively against Mendes and was largely nullified when Ben Osborn came on in the second half.

Richard Keogh - There's no doubting his passion and he was a little unlucky that the goal deflected off him. However, he was given the run around by Oliveira and his passing wasn't up to his usual high standards.

Jason Shackell - Marshalled the defence well for the most part and Oliveira wisely targeted Keogh for most of the night. His poor backpass for Carson nearly embarrassed the goalkeeper, but he got a lucky escape in that case.

Stephen Warnock - In the past I've slated him, but I have to say, I think that was his best performance in a Derby shirt. After a nervy first couple of minutes where Ward skinned him, he upped his game with the highlight of the match being his last ditch clearance to deny Mendes.

George Thorne - I think he'll be the first to admit he didn't have the best of games. Didn't break up opposition counter attacks like he normally does and some of his passing was off range. He wasn't helped by the fact that Forest dropped so deep when he picked up the ball, leaving no space for him to find runners.

George Thorne competes with Ryan Mendes for the ball (Getty Images)

Jeff Hendrick - Had a superb first 30 minutes, looking threatening every time he moved forward and clipping the top of the bar with a 25 yard shot. After that though, when it became clear he was our main threat Dougie Freedman stuck two men on him and he was taken out of the game. Had a quieter second half, but I think he was unlucky to be substituted.

Bradley Johnson - Wasteful. Time and again he would pick the ball up in promising positions and then take and extra touch, or shoot when the better option would have been to keep the ball moving. I thought he was lucky to stay on the pitch  for the full 90 minutes as even his defensive contribution was pretty poor.

Johnny Russell - I don't think I've ever seen such an up and down performance. On one hand, his set piece deliveries were great and we should have taken advantage of those. But on the other, he constantly took one too many touches and his passing was abysmal, too often putting the receiver in danger or just giving the ball away and allowing Forest to spring the counter. Worked hard as he always does, but lucky to stay on as long as he did.

Andreas Weimann - It's matches like this where I feel sorry for Weimann. A striker pushed out to be a winger, because we don't player 2 up front and his pace was never really used. Indeed as Forest dropped deeper and deeper, he became more and more ineffective. Tried hard and made some good runs, but his first touch still leaves something to be desired.

Chris Martin - You could have been forgiven for thinking he wasn't playing today. Got no change whatsoever out of Mills and Jack Hobbs and in all honesty, needed a strike partner to try and free up some space for him. It was no coincidence he suddenly saw more of the ball when Darren Bent came on.

Tom Ince - Tried to make things happen and run with the ball. We did look better after he came on and his directness caused panic a couple of times in the Forest defence. Needed to be on the pitch longer though to have a greater impact.

Jacob Butterfield - Was unfortunate to drop to the bench and even more unfortunate not to get on the pitch sooner. Played a couple of lovely through balls while on and I think he'll get more game time as the season goes on.

Darren Bent - In all honesty, this game was crying out for him from the moment Forest scored. With Martin not seeing any of the ball, we desperately needed another presence up front to help share the load. We finally moved to two up front when he came on and looked so much better for it, finally stretching their back four. Looked dangerous when he came on and had an understanding with Martin that suggests we may see more of them together in the future.


Parting Thoughts

• I've heard some people saying that the disallowed goal should have stood. Obviously as I'm a Derby fan I'm a little biased, but I think it was the right decision. Shackell who was marking Mills was tackled to the ground by Hobbs, clearly impeding his ability to compete for the ball. Some might argue that this sort of thing happens all the time and referees don't punish it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a foul. 
• I can't help but feel that this was the perfect game for Craig Bryson to come on and reintroduce himself to those of us who have forgotten how good he can be. His darting runs in behind Martin would have opened up more room in which he could work and he lives for these sort of matches.
• From what I can gather (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here Forest fans), that was Forest's best performance of the season. I'm certain that was one of Derby's worst performances of the season; as a team nothing really seemed to click. So the fact that these two teams were polar opposites in terms of performance and there was still only one goal in it is interesting. Just an observation. 
• On the whole though, I can have no complaints. It was obvious that they just wanted it more than us and I'm sure Clement would have actually learnt a lot from this match with regards to both individual players and tactically. 

 Edit: I originally stated that Johnny Russell made the stray pass leading to their goal. This was incorrect, it was in fact Chris Martin.