Calderwood Happy With Improvement

Reds’ Boss Colin Calderwood said he was happy with the improvements shown against Carlisle in their 0-0 draw at the weekend, but thought they had enough chances to have won the game.

Calderwood told the NEP, ‘We’re disappointed not to win the game, but I will sleep much happier after a performance like that.

‘I know we have been held to a draw at home, but after losing to Oldham in midweek, there were so many positives to come out of the game from our point of view.

‘Our tempo was much better and there was too much good to come out of the display to criticise the players. At times that’s probably as well as we have played this season.

‘We’ve got a difficult period coming up with away games against teams just below us in the table and we will know a lot more about ourselves after that. We’ll see.’

Forest certainly had the chances to put this game to bed – long before Holt’s penalty miss.

Wes Morgan and Neil Harris both had headers cleared off the line in the first half and both Holt and then Harris saw efforts disallowed.

But as Carlisle manager McDonald argued, there were reasons to suggest Carlisle could have turned one point into three themselves.

He said: ‘It’s the first time this season I have been disappointed with a point because I thought we dominated the second half and could easily have won the game.

‘I don’t know whether it’s because we have just come into this division, but sometimes I wonder if we truly, truly believe in ourselves away from home because we wait for a little spark before we think we can go on and win a game.

‘We have no problem with belief at home but there is no reason why we should not have that same faith away.

‘Forest played very well in the first half but the penalty save meant that we had a responsibility to the goalkeeper for keeping us in the game and we responded to that.’