Nottingham Forest 2 - 2 Northampton Town

As people all around the country go about their various preparations for Christmas, including decorating trees, writing cards, wrapping presents, and waiting eagerly for the result of the X-Factor final, I sit here pondering what Christmas will bring in terms of results (and points) for Forest, and how today's result might have influenced those thoughts.

Those of you with selective memories like me will, of course be harbouring feelings of trepidation as it is patently obvious from the last few years that the words Happy and Christmas tend not to feature in the same sentence when discussing Forest's festive football results.

So, with back-to-back home games in the run-up to Christmas it was no surprise to hear Calderwood declare that anything below six points from these two games would represent something of a disappointment, especially in view of our failure this week to secure a lucrative third round berth in the FA Cup (and how Mark Arthur must be crying all the way to the bank).

Three weeks in mid-season is a long time (for me at least) to go without attending a game, even if my decision not to travel to Walsall's Toytown ground proved to be the right one as we recorded our fifth consecutive defeat there (just what will it take to end that run?) and I must admit the prospect of facing a side in the lower reaches of the table going into today's fixtures was indeed pretty mouth-watering, especially since we didn't even concede a goal against this lot last season.

Another case of misplaced optimism - when will I ever learn?

The first half this afternoon went well enough. Indeed it looked as though we might be in for another round of the entertaining football served up three weeks ago against Crewe, as Forest passed the ball about in the way we love to see, you know: crisply, to feet, and with lots of movement. And once again Smudge was wasting no time getting the ball back up field. All good stuff really, and no surprise to anyone when we took the lead after just 14 minutes. Perch started the move with a long raking pass to Commons who ran forward before unselfishly (for once) squaring the ball towards McGugan, who then unleashed a pile driver from 20 yards to Cobblers' keeper Mark Bunn's right.

A superb goal then, and one which ought to have paved the way for more as Forest continued to play really well. It was claimed to be a loose 4-3-3 formation with Commons (the cause of a few raised eyebrows among the fans today having become the first Forest player to be seen wearing wussy gloves) and Cohen playing wide of Tyson, but appeared to most of us to be a 4-5-1 with Tyson as sole front man (why?), but Perch and McGugan were also able to press forward themselves (perhaps a little too much in McGugan's case) without too much resistance from the Cobblers' defence whose failure to string many passes together to supply the gigantic and rather cumbersome Poul Hubertz (similar to Peter Crouch only without the agility) meant Smudge had a very quiet first half, and the only attempts on his goal looked more like shots aimed at a particular fan in the Trent End Lower, who was seated at least six feet wide of the left hand post.

So a reasonably contented City Ground at half time then, although the way we'd played first half ought to have merited at least a couple of goals. The break however gave the Cobblers to regroup which became evident pretty much right from the restart. Not so much from a footballing aspect early on, as Northampton had started to play a lot more physical and Dolman, Gilligan and Hughes all found their names going into Mr Penton's notebook in quick succession for some pretty crude tackles, Dolman rather lucky to stay on the field after chopping Tyson in half.

But Forest, meanwhile had started to sit back, and it was starting to look like those chances we'd missed first half might come back to haunt us. As is so often the case when we start to let things slide, we received something of a warning when Hubertz forced an impressive save by Smudge who had to dive low to block a good diagonal shot. But once again the warning went unheeded and we paid for it when Lockwood gave the ball away letting Gilligan move forward down the right. One cross and an outstretched leg by Hubertz later and the scores were level.

It had been coming. Bad mistake by Lockwood who was unfortunate to feel the wrath of a section of fans and not the ideal situation when trying to get your place back, and this mistake will not make him a bad player overnight. However it certainly won't go down as his best performance, and he looked rather dejected when Lenny eventually replaced him.

Five minutes later they'd taken the lead. Gilligan had been replaced by Dean Bowditch (rather a come-down to appear at this level considering he was hailed as the next bright young star by Ipswich just three years ago), who quickly made his presence felt when he set up Daniel Jones for a chance, and as our defence had once more reverted to statues there was only one place the ball was destined for.

Cue stunned silence from the home fans - it was bad enough to concede a goal to this lot, let alone ponder the thought of losing this game. We'd lost shape and had once more reverted to aimless hoofing which produced predictable outcomes. The first attempt to stop the rot brought a hostile reaction from the stands when Commons was taken off and replaced by Agogo. Personally I was puzzled why Agogo wasn't on the pitch at kick-off since with two out and out strikers in 4-4-2 formation we could have killed this game off by half time, so I guess I was more behind Calderwood on this one (Holt was also added with 15 minutes to go, but he was peripheral).

Even so, I doubted the changes would make much difference as I struggled to recall us scoring a late goal when still chasing a game, and the way we were playing it looked like we'd see Christmas before another goal.

So credit, then to Calderwood for making the pivotal change pay off as Agogo met McGugan's corner kick in the very last minute of normal time to send a bullet header into the roof of the net. Another superb goal to help extend our unbeaten home league run to eight games, although you could taste the sense of relief as we celebrated the equaliser.

Calderwood was right to praise the lads for persevering which ultimately saved our blushes, although questions still need to be asked why we seemed to lose our way in the second half and set ourselves up for a mountain to climb. Although he denied complacency as a factor I felt there was a distinctive lack of urgency that cannot be allowed to fester and ought to serve as a timely warning as we go into the festive period.

So, the test is on. The next four games will have considerable bearing on the campaign as a whole, and when you look at who we've got there ought to be a better points tally at the end of it than we've managed in recent years.

Port Vale (h) - this fixture has rarely given us problems, we did a pretty good job at theirs back in September, and they are still trying to live down their FA Cup defeat by Chasetown. Three points, I reckon.

Oldham (a) - the bogey match as anyone who was at Boundary Park on New Year's Day will painfully recall. Historically we're not good at getting anything from an away fixture on Boxing Day, so goals or no goals a point will represent something of an improvement.

Gillingham (a) - regarded as something of a Christmas hangover fixture with some disastrous home defeats in recent years. We seem to have shaken off our hoodoo at The Priest Field and I quite fancy an away win for this one.

Huddersfield (h) - we usually manage to scrape a home win on New Year's Day, and we can do so here as long as we're not likely to go top as a result.

That, by my reckoning would make ten points from twelve quite possible, so no festive slip-ups please. There will be Lancashire coverage for these games bar Gillingham, although a couple of reports may get lumped together to enable yours truly to enjoy a little Ho Ho indulgence.

And on that note I wish everyone a very peaceful and Happy Christmas.

Ref Watch: Clive Penton - Let the game flow first half before his tolerance of clumsy tackles eventually ran out, leading to three Northampton players being booked, although he bottled it when one of these offended quite blatantly again.

Entertainment Value: The first half was pretty good, although Northampton getting back into the game after the break at least made it more of a contest. 7/10

Atmosphere: That expectant buzz among the home fans prevalent in the first half gave way to a vocal travelling support who really got behind their team as they fought back. Credit to them, and something we can learn from. However, when, oh when, is the PA system and the pre-match music going to improve? With that mish-mash of five-second music clips playing prior to the players appearing it killed the atmosphere. This is a football club, not a nightclub. Sort it out. I say again, SORT IT OUT!

Highlights: Entertaining first half, crowned by a superb strike from young McGugan, though credit to the boys for refusing to give up as full time approached, and were duly rewarded; great to see Johnno's name being chanted to the rafters once more as he walked round the pitch before kick-off.

Lowlights: Sitting back after the break having failed to kill the game off, and paying for a couple of mistakes - sounds familiar? Watching our defence turn to statues for their first goal was hideous. Oh, and someone needs to sort the catering kiosks out in the Trent End: 25 minutes before kick-off and I'm told the pasties and rolls 'aren't ready yet??'

Stinker: Lockwood - just didn't make any positive contribution today. Deserves a chance, but at the moment Bennett needn't worry about getting his place back.

Stormer: Lewis McGugan