Nottingham Forest blog: Plenty of positives despite defeat by Middlesbrough

Forest followed up an impressive win at QPR by beating Birmingham in mid week, so by the time high flying Boro arrived in town there was little to fear. Amazingly we went with two up front which is what I’ve been hankering after for a very long time.

Result aside, it definitely worked because Forest played with real attacking purpose.

Despite the game being televised there was still a healthy crowd of 20,000 and the atmosphere was superb.

Middlesbrough brought a great following in true North East style.

Forest looked for Chris O’Grady at every opportunity and he didn’t disappoint, he held the ball up brilliantly and retained possession very well.

Adohmah was a real threat for Middlesbrough and was full of running.

A mistake by Mills led to Middlesbrough taking the lead through David Nugent.

But Mills atoned for his error just minutes later when he volleyed home with style from a corner kick.

His eventful start to the game was capped by an injury which saw him replaced by Jack Hobbs.

Boro began to take control of the game and forced a string of world class saves from Dorus DeVries in the Forest goal.

Ironically it was another sloppy effort that put the tee-siders in front again.

Former Forest man Daniel Ayala headed home from inches following a scrappy build up.

The second half saw Jamie Ward replace Osborn who had been struggling to find any form, David Vaughan was also failing to make an impression on the game but he had Lansbury to get him out of jail.

This half definitely belonged to the home side as they really went at Boro, Konstantopoulos was the keeper pulling off all of the saves. Eric Lichaj who was outstanding again, came close on numerous occasions.

Then came the golden chance, Forest got a penalty in the 77th minute; Lansbury stepped up but had his kick saved by Konstatopoulos.

The Forest skipper could be criticised for adopting the same style as last week but fair play to any player that is brave enough to stand up and be counted.

There was also a debut for Jonathan Williams who did well to come on in such a frenetic game, as the yellow cards piled up for the visitors you could tell that they were desperate to hang on for the points.

They did indeed get the win but the home crowd went away very content indeed.

Forest performed excellently and played with a real attacking edge and desire. It was a breath of fresh air to see 4-4-2 and some good old fashioned Forest flair.