DOWN BUT NOT OUT

DEFIANT and determined words from Colin Todd couldn't disguise the damage done by another last gasp catastrophe.

The sound of silence in the away team dressing room at the City Ground said it all.

For the third game in a row, a late goal had dealt a shattering body blow to the team whose Premiership prospects were already perilous enough.

Talk about kicking a man when he's down - and Wanderers are down at the moment, there's no getting away from that fact.

Whether they stay down depends on how they react to the events of the last three games, which have shown plenty in terms of promise but delivered little in terms of points.

Survival depends on whether they carry on feeling sorry for themselves or whether they knuckle down - on and off the pitch - and do something about it.

True, Wanderers would be nestling in a relatively comfortable position in the Premier League if they hadn't conceded late goals in their last three games. But those four precious points are history now and there's nothing to be gained from agonising over what might have been.

Todd is right. They need to be positive but the fine words have to be backed up by decisive deeds.

What the last three games have shown is that Wanderers are improving. They matched QPR, held Everton and, although clearly outclassed on Saturday, they made a real nuisance of themselves, frustrating Forest for long spells. Enough to prompt a relieved Frank Clark to concede: "It looked as though we'd thrown two points away."

Players have got to continue that improvement.

What has also been rammed home forcefully is that Wanderers are a long, long way short of Premiership quality. And until they can draft in more talent, they will continue to struggle.

Quality signings are a must.

With ten games already gone and with just five points on the board, the situation is looking desperate. And desperate situations often call for desperate measures. But the Wanderers management refuses to compromise.

"There is no way we will change our style of play," Todd insisted. "We still believe in ourselves and in the football we are trying to play. We will endeavour to be as positive as ever, regardless of how things are going."

Morale, he said, was not a problem at the moment. "We haven't had to say much in the dressing room," he said after Colin Cooper's last minute smash and grab header. "The players are obviously all bitterly disappointed because they've come so close to achieving a fine result that would have given us a tremendous boost.

"But we should be able to hold onto our team spirit. We will get better. I know we will get better.

"You might be thinking Bolton are certs to go down but I don't believe that. We've got a good set of players, the Yugoslav waiting to come in who is a very good player and will certainly help us.

"There will be no negative vibes from us at all." Todd is no fool. He wouldn't be saying such things if he didn't believe them and there was evidence of an improvement at Forest in terms of possession and patience - the words he and Roy McFarland had been spelling out in the build up.

Wanderers needed another outstanding performance from Keith Branagan to prevent Clark's men celebrating their new Premiership record of 23 unbeaten games with a high-scoring rout. Gudni Bergsson and Chris Fairclough certainly seemed to have the measure of Bryan Roy and Jason Lee although neither Steve McAnespie nor Jimmy Phillips could say the same of Ian Woan and Steve Stone respectively .

Against a side of Forest's quality, with the added confidence of an impressive UEFA Cup win in midweek, this was never going to be much more than a backs to the wall operation.

In the event, Wanderers did enough to have the home fans anxiously biting their nails at the end when the record itself came under threat.

They actually got cocky. They'd survived the storm, ridden their luck, hauled themselves level and they had the audacity to throw on David Lee in search of the winner!

Cooper's clincher - following Dichio's 89th minute winner for QPR and Rideout's 85th minute equaliser for Everton - came on the counter attack after a five-minute siege of the Forest goal.

They'd scored first too. It was hard to work out why Mark Crossley was deceived by Richard Sneekes' 24th minute shot until the Dutchman himself confirmed it had taken a deflection.

Branagan had already made two key saves, the first from a Gemmill shot and the second from Roy after he and Gemmill - both completely clear - contrived to miss a 17th minute sitter.

But Roy was on hand to turn in Woan's cross and everyone waited for the avalanche.

It didn't materialise. Alan Thompson went close with a smart half volley on the turn and, if Mixu Paatelainen had been able to direct his header better when he met a Phillips cross, John McGinlay would have had a tap-in.

Nevertheless, there was that now customary predictability that Wanderers would crack. Alan Stubbs spent more time defending rather than creating, Branagan was forced to make further saves from Woan and Stuart Pearce and Mark Patterson cleared Gemmill's header off the line. But Crossley had to go full length to tip a Sneekes special over his bar before the inevitable happened.

Under pressure from Stone, Patterson unwisely tried to let the ball run out for a goal kick but the new England man nipped in, snatched the ball and crossed to give Lee a simple 69th minute tap-in.

"It was a basic error," Todd said of the captain's blunder. "It's mistakes like that that are costing us dearly. The next time I know where he will put it!"

Patterson's blushes appeared to have been saved ten minutes later when Crossley - four clean sheets in his last five games - tried to be clever and hit a clearance straight to Fabian de Freitas. The man from Volendam had only been on the field six minutes but he wasn't going to pass up on a heaven sent chance of his third goal of the season.

With Branagan tipping a Cooper shot against the foot of the post and Forest surviving a string of late corners Wanderers forced forward in pursuit of the extra two points. That seemed to be it - until Des Lyttle supplied the cross for Cooper to have the last word.

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