Plymouth proved to be the perfect opponents for our warm-up for the play-offs. They gave us plenty of space in midfield which Majewski, in particular, took full advantage of. After missing a couple of early one-on-ones through Earnshaw and Tyson we soon got back into the usual rhythm. Majewski’s excellent through ball found Earnshaw to score with ease and then Plymouth’s clearance from Moussi’s right wing cross hit Blackstock to double the lead.

The second half was a non-event with Forest easing their way through the game until adding a third in the closing stages. McGugan’s control let him down but it fell perfectly for Anderson to chip past the keeper.

With a better pitch, there were signs of a return to the free flowing passing of earlier in the season with Majewski and Moussi both having more influential games in midfield. MOTM Morgan continued his impressive run of games this season with a dominant display. In terms of the play-offs, only the performances of Perch and Tyson leave question marks over starting places for the home leg. Neither showed enough quality to suggest that their places are guaranteed.

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Tags: Games Won, MOTM Wes Morgan

To find ourselves confirmed in the play-offs with 3 games to go is a fantastic achievement. We’ll enter them in plenty of confidence and should fear no other team. In the remaining games, we have the opportunity to rest a few players and give some of the squad players the chance to find some form whilst resting the likes of Gunter, Cohen and Blackstock who’ve contributed so much this season.

The first half was played with the feel of a pre-season friendly with Forest playing without their usual zip and Ipswich creating a few decent opportunities but lacking the belief that they would ever score.

Once we took a slightly fortunate lead early in the second half, we never looked back and ran out easy winners. Cohen’s free kick found Earnshaw on the edge of the area and his turn and shot found the net via Chambers hip.

Moussi had another decent afternoon for the first seventy minutes and scored a well deserved second goal. He started to feature at both ends of the pitch and it was noticeable that he had a real influence on the game. Things went downhill after he scored with a number of careless passes that always seem to let him down. He still did enough to suggest that we might be able to cope without McKenna in the important games ahead of us.

The scoring was rounded off by Earnshaw after a neat move down the left opened up their defence and we kept the ball alive via Tyson and Blackstock. Another well deserved goal for an afternoon full of endeavour.

There were signs of the old free flowing football as Majewski joined the action and started to link up the midfield and forwards. At the other end, Ipswich still created a number of (mostly wayward) efforts but never really looked like scoring.

As with most of our games this season, it was a real team effort with no one really standing out. MOTM Cohen was one of the few players to perform in both halves and continues to lead by example from midfield.

The back four has a much more solid feel to it with Gunter’s class translated to left back and Chambers obvious improvement with better players around him plus providing a real threat from set pieces. The performances of Wilson and Morgan this season speak for themselves.

The only slight disappointment of the afternoon was the performance of Tyson, who we persisted with down the right hand side for the majority of the game. Time and again he’d find himself in a decent position but got found out by a lack of a decent right foot. He looked much more settled down the left on the few occasions he was allowed to swap sides.

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Tags: Games Won, MOTM Chris Cohen

Whilst it was slightly disappointing to end the home winning streak without breaking the record, there was plenty of encouraging signs against one of our play-off rivals. If we’d managed to produce one of the clinical finishes that have been a trademark of the previous home games, the result might have been different. We were still able to show that we’re more than capable of providing Cardiff with a tough test.

Despite being under pressure in the opening stages, we missed the best chance of the game. Their defence failed to deal with a routine ball over the top and left Earnshaw running in on goal with only the keeper to beat. Unusually, he lacked a calm finish and hit the keeper instead.

Tyson produced one moment of class, of an otherwise disappointing afternoon, with a right wing and cross but Cohen missed the ball with an empty goal in front of him. Moussi produced another decent cross than just evaded Tyson in the middle.

At the other end, Cardiff relied on set pieces for the dangers posed and we escaped a couple of nervy moments. However, credit to our defence as the longer the game proceeded, the less likely they looked to score.

After the break, we continued to improve and cause more problems whilst the visitors lost all interest in winning the game and concentrated on stopping us playing instead.

Blackstock had the best chance of the half, winning the ball from a defender and finding himself through on goal. Similar to Earnshaw, he couldn’t find the clinical finish to beat their keeper.

McCleary showed a number of neat touches down the right and produced better service than Tyson had generally been capable of. Based on recent performances, Tyson should be considered as backup for Earnshaw instead of being stuck out on the left wing.

Defensively we looked very solid with the back five remaining as reliable and consistent as ever. Camp had a relatively quiet afternoon due to the performances of those in front of him. Gunter’s move to the left has eased our previous concerns about a lack of left back. Chambers continues to look settled at right back and poses a real threat from every set piece. Wilson and Morgan stood up for themselves well in spite of facing the obvious threat of their forwards.

Majewski’s form is the one worry from those genuine first teamers within the squad. After the purple patch earlier, he’s really struggling to have any real impact at the moment. Better news in the format of MOTM Moussi who seems to be finding some form just at the right time, one of the better players on Saturday and put in another impressive performance. His normally wayward passing wasn’t evident and he’s having an impact at both ends of the pitch.

Earnshaw and Blackstock looked a threat throughout and both should have found themselves on the score sheet. They are rightfully the number one forward pairing for us and ideally we’ll see them rested in the coming weeks to allow Garner and Tyson to show some form down the middle.

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Tags: Games Drawn, MOTM Guy Moussi

Finally we leave an away game without another defeat to our name. We had the worst possible start by conceding in the first couple of minutes but fought back well, equalised and should really have pinched the three points after the break.

We found ourselves behind before the game really got started. A long range effort following a cleared corner was deflected past Camp, leaving the keeper with no real chance.

We stumbled along in a state of shock for a while until Moussi produced a rocket from nowhere to equalise. Taking the ball from the defence, no one closed him down and he found the top corner from 30 yards.

City nearly took the lead again out of nothing. An over head kick from another corner was heading for the top corner until Camp got back brilliantly to tip over.

Things continued disappointingly until MOTM Garner joined the game and, along with Moussi, was the real highlight of the afternoon. In contrast to the disappointing Adebola, he looked full of movement and energy playing at centre forward. Their defence suddenly had very little time on the ball as Garner hassled and then dropped deep to provide the link between midfield and attack.

Tyson found himself through on goal from sub McGoldrick’s pass but their keeper smothered the shot. Garner then should have scored with a header from Chambers’ great cross but the keeper saved and was then alive to stop Tyson’s rebound.

Gunter looked very lively down the left hand side, making the most of the space in front of him when the ball came his way. Unfortunately, Boyd had another disappointing game and it wasn’t a surprise when he was replaced early into the second half. He seems to be struggling to get into the game at the moment and show off his obvious talents.

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Tags: Games Drawn, MOTM Joe Garner