Walking out from the Coventry Building Society Arena on Sunday evening the feeling was very much, same old Forest, after a promising start fell into late defeat and a second half of negative football that in the end, simply backfired.

The personnel may have tweaked, rather than changed too much during the summer, the optimism however on a fine start to the season of which ‘this will be the one’ soon evaporating upon Kyle McFadzean’s scrappy 96^th minute goal.

Manager Chris Hughton who took stick, has form for lacklustre football, but then so too had Sabri Lamouchi in a slightly more suave and fashionable way, ditto Martin O’Neill whilst using an unpopular pre-historic formula which included pre-season training running up the hill towards Wollaton Hall, this is nothing new, the great Billy Davies often played Dele Adebola up front on his own for away games, setting Forest up not to get beat is always first and foremost, it is the players that in the end manage themselves in these nail biting matches, the off button switched on a couple of occasions at vital times, in truth against a very ordinary Coventry City side, the Reds were simply not good enough player for player on the day. That’s not to say the Manager should not rightly take ‘some’ of the blame.

Man for man and tactics aside, youngsters Brennan Johnson and Alex Mighten offered a glimmer of hope on having at least potentially a bit more excitement going forward this season than last, tricking and teasing with pace on the break, Johnson’s rapid counter-attacking assist for Lyle Taylor suggesting he’ll be a handful for defenders this season. Jordan Gabriel at right back was solid and saw off a good opponent in Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen. Loic Mbe Soh comfortable in possession until injury saw his day cut short, the Reds youngsters were not by any stretch the ones to blame for the result.

Fast forward Tuesday night and the return of fans to the City Ground, many like me expecting an underwhelming and perhaps unimportant cup tie against Braford City, only in attendance just to get back home and singing Mist Rolling In, but then the team was announced, and six debutants, eight in total given first starts, it all looked a bit more exciting than what we’d seen before.

Of those six debutants, five were across the defence, a back four made up completely of Academy players. Right back Finn Back, the son of England rugby legend Neil Back, was gutsy, solid, decent on the ball and had a hand in the opening goal with a lovely slide rule pass to Philip Zinckernagel who assisted the returning Joao Carvalho.

Baba Fernandes, signed earlier this year from Vitoria Setubal in Portugal, was game, hands on, physical, a nuisance pressing his attacker, possibly a bit too pumped up, his rash tackle injuring himself which lead to Bradford City scoring a free kick, Baba’s day was up, at the same time as Riley Harbottle, substituted after not looking out of place at centre half. The Harbottle family name is known well in these parts with dad Dave and uncle Mike playing for Dunkirk FC with the likes of Wes Morgan in years gone by. Riley looked comfortable in possession and decent on the ball, his 67 minutes warranting at least another go in red before long. Finally Jayden Richardson at left back, who’s 32 games at Forest Green last season have done him no harm. Quietly going about his business with a steady 7 out of 10.

The average age of the Reds back four just twenty years old, against a strong Bradford City team that will be vying for promotion in League Two, factor in the likes of Loic Mbe Soh and Jordan Gabriel on Sunday, all of a sudden you feel more confident in what the club has in reserve to what is often on the pitch, when the likes of Toby Figueiredo and Gaeten Bong are playing.

Another huge plus on the night against Bradford was that of Tyrese Fornah, who for the opening 45 minutes at least, proved an absolute beast, a masterclass midfield performance, at times standing out like a saw thumb, the best player on the park.

Positional sense, strength, character, confidence, and technical ability, if Fornah is not the Reds next ‘big’ thing I’ll be very surprised indeed.

The 21-year-old midfielder spent a successful time on loan at Plymouth Argyle last season, even dropping in at centre half showing maturity and team ethic, the player went on record saying “I’ll play anywhere to help the team”.

It’s those sort of comments, and the demeanor of the player that could see him make it to the top in the game, last year at Plymouth when asked where he saw himself in a year, he said “playing for Forest’s first team”.

Fornah’s performance so impressive, they’ll now be a clamour to get him in that team at the earliest opportunity. Ryan Yates and Jack Colback beware.

Another one of the youngsters perhaps finding things tougher on the night against Bradford was French winger Ateef Konate. The 20 year old who signed from Le Havre shown electric pace, but rarely featured on the ball, time will tell if he’ll be one that makes the grade.

But with a spine of experience in the side that includes relative youth in Joe Worrall and Ryan Yates, homegrown, with the likes of Jack Colback, Scott McKenna, Joe Lolley, Lewis Grabban and Lyle Taylor, the filling of all other positions bar goalkeeper is very much up for grabs, and in youth Chris Hughton should trust, as he certainly now has a category one list of young footballers to choose from.

Throw in Wil Swann, Julian Larsson, Ollie Hammond, Marcelo Saraiva and Aaron Donnelly who’s just signed his first professional contract with the club aged 18, Arsenal loanee Jordi Osei-Tutu still only 22 himself, and regardless of tactics, regardless of styles, regardless of how the Manager goes about his business, Nottingham Forest Football Club have some very fine young footballers at their disposal, and that certainly bodes well for the future.

My question to those in charge is, can we begin our future now?

*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).

*Main image @NFFC Finn Back was brilliant against Bradford City on Wednesday.