Aided by some very slack defending Ipswich took the lead on 18 minutes through a Naylor header and this was doubled two minutes later by Johnson with a volley from outside the box.

Playing with a 4-5-1 formation Forest had little to show up front until Dougie hit the bar. If a team plays with a lone striker then there are two essential ingredients; the forward needs to be big enough and able enough to hold the ball and the midfield has to be able to break with him and all of them able to score. Unfortunately the present team seems to be a little sparse on each of these points.

The game was then put out of Forest’s reach on 71 minutes when Scowcroft scored from a shot about 12 yards out. Following a foul on Marlon, stand-in Captain Bart scored from the penalty spot late on in the second half.

Overall this was a poor performance by Forest. However, it has to be remembered that a third of the team have only signed in the last week or so and they haven’t had the luxury of the pre-season warm-ups. On a positive note Petrachi looked good in midfield, one person referred to him as like the mercenary Bohinen (a type of player Forest have been lacking since he took the money and went to Blackburn).

It also has to be remembered that there is still some of Mr Doughty’s money in the bank and there will hopefully be more signings to come. Providing we can sign a quality striker and when a couple more games have been played, I believe that there are signs we can start to turn things round.