On Sunday afternoon for 43 and a bit minutes I was really not that impressed. The only difference in Forest, chasing for promotion and Huddersfield, scrapping for survival in the opening half of the game came two minutes before the break, a bit of real quality from the Championship’s fifth all-time leading goalscorer.

Last night was similar, Bristol City off the back of two defeats post lockdown came with a game plan under Lee Johnson, to make things ugly, to scrap with Forest and to go to head to head in a battle with them as they kicked lumps out of each-other. The only difference, a bit of real quality from Sabri Lamouchi’s first Forest signing.

Forest know how to win ugly, this Forest team are far from the best football team I have seen over the years at the City Ground, but they are the best ‘team’ I have seen since the days of Billy Davies.

Remember the Reds were just a few seconds and a bit of better marking by Toby Figueiredo from beating Sheffield Wednesday with a similar performance, thanks largely to a bit of real quality from Joe Lolley. The reason Forest ‘can’ win ugly, is because they also have some beautiful attacking players within their Garibaldi inspired armour.

It seems Lewis Grabban needs just five touches a game to score one goal. In watching the game back against Huddersfield on Sunday I remember co-commentator and ex-Red (& Pie), Nottingham born Shaun Derry stating “Grabban doesn’t get enough credit for what he does off the ball” suggesting “he’s not just a goalscorer, but one who brings players into play, gets Forest up the pitch” and one that “works the channels well to create space through the middle”. I’ve noticed it on numerous occasions, Grabban chasing lost causes with no red shirt within 50 yards of him, running down the wing, waiting for the cavalry to arrive, and when it finally does he still has the eye and aim to pick out a player.

Tiago Silva is different. I likened him to Carvalho when he first joined but he’s made of much stronger stuff. Think Carvalho on Weetabix. I was there to see his first goal in the Carabao Cup verses Fleetwood, a little jink before smashing home into the roof of the net. Funny enough it was the ‘only’ bit of real quality that day too.

Joe Lolley was subbed at half-time yesterday as Sabri Lamouchi stated he wanted to “shake up the dressing room”. On his day though he’s arguably the leagues best player and is capable of scoring from anywhere within 40 yards of goal. The one he took at Sheffield Wednesday was sublime, the goal he scored at home against Luton was ‘typical Joe Lolley’.

One player not mentioned is Sammy Ameobi, perhaps not one who gets as many goals as he should, but his awkwardness and impeccable footwork are enough to dazzle opposition defences of the highest order. A different dimension, whether it be taking on a full back before sending them dizzy or arriving late at the back post like he did at Stoke? Forest’s attacking quartet is in my opinion as strong as anybody elses in the Championship.

I’ve heard the word ‘shithousery’ branded about a bit after Forest win… It’s a term used often when fans think ‘we’ve got away with one’…. But I often think it gets mis-used, especially when Forest win ugly. A statistic last night stated that Forest have won more games (8) than anybody else in the Championship this season. That, my friend is not ‘shithousery’… That instead, is how to win games from leading positions.

Another stat suggests that when Forest have lead at half time under Lamouchi they haven’t been beat… All stinks a little of gameplan doesn’t it? Probably because Forest know how to win ugly!

We all know that Lamouchi is happy for his players to concede possession, we know he drills his side to defend 4-5-1 and to attack pretty much 3-4-3 thanks to his energetic full backs courtesy of Ben Watson staying put. But Forest are more than just a ‘well drilled’ outfit that know how to defend and attack through a Frenchman’s textbook philosophy… They also know how to win ugly… That’s because they are good at doing the ugly stuff to.

Ryan Yates, to his credit is ugly. Ben Watson can often be ugly, Joe Worrall, most definitely ugly… These are players who wear their hearts on their sleeves and are prepared to ‘dig in’ and fight win lose or draw.

And whilst it rubs off on other players, (Bruno & Toby are now becoming ‘ugly’) when needed the most, there’s always a few more of the ‘ugly’ cavalry to rely on. When Ryan Yates got a smashed nose last night and had to be replaced Lamouchi brought on Samba Sow. At the same time he took the silky skilled Tiago Silva off, he of yes that free kick… And he brought on a big ugly centre half in Michael Dawson. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it… Old skool mentality, get the big man on, defend until our hearts content.

And as I leave you in the 96^th minute with those begging our score apps to say ‘match ended’ before we relax for the final 30 seconds of our streams… We have our left back Bruno Ribeiro running full pelt fifty yards to get forward in support of the attack…. Only for Forest to lose the ball on the edge of the area and force him to run even faster full pelt fifty yards and more to get back… As the ball comes towards him on the bounce for Bristol’s all but last attempt he then just simply smashes it to smithereens, out of sight, out of ground, last seen bouncing down London Road past the Aviary…. That my friend… Is winning ugly!

*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).

*Main image @NFFC Ryan Yates got a bust nose for his troubles as Forest win ugly.