How green is the Valley…

By: Tim | January 12th, 2009

Earnshaw bags the three points... After Billy Davies claimed that ‘there are 20-odd semi-finals left for us now, every game is important’, it was vital that we got a result in this relegation six-pointer at the Valley. Lucky, then, that our recent away form continued and we managed to scrape a 2-0 victory over the Addicks.

We may have rode our luck, and at times it may have looked like men against boys, but our away stats don’t lie – we’ve got nine points from the last twelve available, and all of those points have come away from home. Add the fantastic result at Eastlands in to the mix and you’ve got a decent little run of away form.

We’re not out of the woods yet, not by a long stretch, but things are looking a little rosier in the league now. We are currently out of the relegation zone, level with Watford on 27 points, only two shy of Derby on 29, and eight points clear of Charlton at the bottom. Hopefully this run of form can continue for Davies when he makes his City Ground debut against Plymouth this Saturday.

Back to the Valley though, for the first 25 minutes it was Charlton who looked like taking the points, spurred on by young debutant Jonjo Shelvey, whose first act was to turn and thread a ball through for Deon Burton. Lucky for us he failed to hit the target, but this must have been a wake-up call for Davies after the defence was caught napping so early on. Charlton kept trying but against the run of play, just after the half-hour mark, Paul Anderson misdirected a shot into the path of Nathan Tyson, who gladly hit the back of the net.

Barely two minutes later Earnshaw doubled our lead, and effectively ended the game. After Matt Holland’s poorly placed header came his way he brilliantly lobbed the keeper – it seems he is getting his confidence back now which is pleasing to see. Try as they might, particularly after the restart, Charlton couldn’t find a way past Smudge and the ever reliable Big Wes, and three crucial points came our way. Watch the highlights here.

Billy Davies made a not so veiled plea for some fresh faces after the match: ‘I’m very pleased with the three points, the commitment and work-rate, but to compete at the top end the younger boys have to grow up quickly and we need men alongside them’. It’s clear that Davies is going to bide his time with any new signings too: ‘We are not going to dive into the transfer market for the sake of it, but if the right ones come our way then we will do something’.

The majority of Forest fans have taken to Davies I’d say, after the match he accepted the fans’ invitation to give them a wave, and there were chants of ‘Billy Davies red and white army’ during the game. It’s clear from this interview with Daniel Taylor that he bears a grudge against Derby too, if anything will go down well with the Forest faithful at this stage then it’s that.