Views on today

Went to the game today with a mate who's a Forest fan, and although it wasn't the greatest display of pure football you're ever likely to see, it was a very good Barnsley performance that deservedly earnt three points.

Steele and the back four defended very well, the whole game had a Sunday League air when the ball was dropping in the penalty area, but the Barnsley defenders were first to it and getting bodies in the way every time. Quite why Forest employ strikers whose first touch bounces three yards away from then is hard to work out, but you can only deal with what you're up against. That said, marking Simon Cox must be one of the easiest jobs in the world. Kennedy looks ten times the player he did earlier on the season, though he was at fault for the Mackie chance (the late error came about because of Steele's initial indecision to come for the ball - something the keeper acknowledged)

First half the midfield seemed a bit unsure about who was meant to where at times, with Dawson the one doing his best to hold them all together. The rare occasions Forest did threaten it came when they appeared to have a man over wide as the midfield were busy getting into position.
Dawson's still as limited as he was in L2, but you will always get a shift out of him, and today's type of game suits his to a tee. O'Brien would be a much better player if he just thought things through before swinging his leg at the ball. He does all the hard work finding a space to do something but he snatches at it all too often. Does it in all areas of the pitch too, look at the goals conceded at Sheff Wed and the one where he was on the post (Ipswich?). He's fine when he takes his time. Woods and Mellis did alright offensively, but must be congratulated for stepping up to the plate in the battle to defend the lead late on. Not sure I've seen that from Mellis much before, but his workrate was very good.

Jennings goal was excellent, but that clown in the Forest net is always going to let in speculative drives like that, he's half a yard too slow reacting to things. The ball went in far too near him and he should have done much better. It looked like the Jennings of Tranmere circa 2010-11, a constant threat cutting in with Big Greg Halford chasing after him and illustrating why nobody should ever give up hope of playing the game at a professional level.

Finally, great to see COG causing havoc amongst monstrous centre halves still. He didn't dominate them as he can against some, but any lesser player would have had zero effect with the ball pinging back every time it went forward. Not O'Grady, he let both defenders know they would never have time, ran them all over the place positionally and provided a focal point for everything Barnsley did. Once other players maximised this space around him a goal was bound to follow.

Enjoyable day, good win, well deserved.