Nottingham Forest 1-0 Ipswich Town: Karl Fuller's verdict

On Sunday morning, I received a text message from an old friend who is a Nottingham Forest fan. He was present at Saturday’s game. His encouraging words were: "You will be alright this season. Oh, by the way, along with Newcastle, your fans were the loudest and best we have seen this season!”

It is all becoming a remarkably familiar story. Play well, and either draw or lose narrowly. Yet another game where we can be proud of our efforts in the main. But boy, is this league such a continuous unforgiving beast. We really are not too far off where we need to be. We are remaining competitive, but, at some point, we are going to require a few wins along the way.

This was another encounter of ifs, buts, and maybes. But at least it was not the hammering we had at West Ham. There are no gains points wise in defeat, but the way we lost should not set off any alarm bells.

Conor Chaplin applauds the travelling fans at The City Ground. (Image: Ross Halls)

If Liam Delap had not unfortunately taken the ball away from Conor Chaplin just as the latter looked set to score, then maybe going a goal up would have changed the whole narrative of this game.

Maybe it was a harsh penalty to concede. Jota Silva certainly made a meal of whatever touch had afforded him. Contact was minimal. But it was enough. We have suffered worse injustices this season.

Once Forest gained the lead, we seemed to run out of ideas and huffed our way towards truly little in the end. But it was another learning curve for us.

As I say, we are not being comprehensively beaten, we are not looking out of place. So many of our draws could have been wins, this was a defeat that could have conjured a point. Neither side deserved to win on the balance of play.

Axel Tuanzebe picking up another injury is a blow. (Image: Ross Halls)

Now, in the space of six short days, this must be our time. A time to get that first Premier League win at Portman Road since April 2002. Darren Bent was our hero that night when he scored our goal in a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.

Crystal Palace at Portman Road, under the lights, promises to be a humdinger of an evening. I will take another 1-0 win. In whatever way it comes. A deflection off a backside. A thunderbolt from 30 yards. I do not care one jot how it is achieved. Just get that win.

The table is already starting to show a breakaway six at the bottom. One must already expect that three from the current bottom half dozen to be relegated. We could do ourselves a massive favour to get that first win over another struggling side.

And then it is Bournemouth. Neither of these next two games will be easy and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to look at what happened against Everton and Leicester.

Nathan Broadhead made is first appearance of the season at the weekend. (Image: Ross Halls)

One positive note that I must mention from the Forest game is the first Premier League appearance of the season for Nathan Broadhead. Often last season, a few of us spoke how well Nathan might perform in this league. He has so many attributes that would appear to suit this level of the game. I just hope now that we can see him go on a run of games and be yet another to integrate into the side and improve each week. He has had his fair share of bad luck with injuries. Hopefully now will be his time.

Talking of injuries, the last thing we really need right now is to lose Axel Tuanzebe again. It is not looking good, but fingers crossed for him.

Finally, a word for the brand-new George Burley book: ‘All To Play For.’ I have taken receipt of my copy and a quick glance through it I can see it looks superb. Written by Neil Prentice, who worked meticulously with George on the book, it is full of stories from Town personnel, facts, and so much more. If you have not got it on your Christmas list yet, then please make sure you do. If you have Neil’s previous book ‘1980/81’ you will already know how great his work is.