Two home games. Six points?

Sadly not. The Saturday game against Barnsley was fast and furious. Once again we went ahead and once again we were soon pegged back. Forest created at least three good chances in the first quarter of an hour before Simon Cox fired in after a Jamie Mackie shot was spilled by the keeper. Then Guy Moussi, in because of the departure of Adlene Guedioura to Crystal Palace, bundled over a Tyke in the box and they scored from the penalty spot. Right on half time a wicked Andy Reid curling free kick was diverted into his own net by a Barnsley defender. 2-1 to us Reds at the interval.

More of the same in the second half. Instead of going on and winning the game we spurned more chances and were hit by the most amazing free kick. From a spot central to the goal and, according to the official report, 35 yards out, Cywka drilled the ball into the top corner like a bullet. Probably the best free kick he will ever take. As most of our home games are on Al Jazeera TV now, there was a shot from behind the goal and it goes in like a bullet. Now 2-2 and a bit deflating. However, this Forest team has spirit. Darius Henderson, fresh from his 'injury' (or court appearance) came on to grab the winner 6 minutes from time.

One out of the ordinary occurrence was the appearance of Bill Medley at half time. Apparently one of the fans knows someone associated with Bill's forthcoming tour and mentioned that Forest fans sing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" to opposing fans when we take the lead in matches. He is in the country for an appearance on Jools Holland TV prog and presumably thought he could fit this in for more publicity. Incidentally, LTLF is also the name of one of the Forest fan forums. Anyway, he appeared at half time complete with red and white scarf, got a rousing cheer and a chorus of his song. Took a wander along to A & B Blocks and posed for photos.

In the end, the right result of the match, but it felt a bit flat to me.

On Tuesday night we played Middlesbrough who came to us fresh from a 3-0 drubbing by Ipswich. Surely we couldn't muck this one up? Well, this is Forest I'm talking about and, sure as eggs is eggs, we had a good go at fouling up our home record.

Another good opening 15 minutes with no goal. Then Adomah sprinted clear of Greg Halford on the right wing, pin-point cross and the ball was in our net. Calamity. Especially as Halford was on because Kelvin Wilson had gone off  moments earlier with a back spasm, our first problem with the back four since the Blackburn match.

Worse was to come after half time. Another opposition wonder goal sent us two down. Friend got free on the lefty edge of our penalty area and sent in the shot of his life, ripping into the same top corner of poor Karl Darlow's net that Cywka found on Saturday. The 'keeper must be fed up with this succession of stunning goals, First McGugan at Watford, then these last two.

A fight back was necessary and we got it. Forest totally dominated the rest of the game scoring through substitutes Derbyshire and Henderson, but unfortunately not succeeding in scoring the winning goal. Still four points is four points with a long way to go. The quality of refereeing is always a hot topic and we seem to have had our share of dodgy refs this season so far. Referee Dowd on Tuesday is from the Premier list, but still managed to make several contentious decisions. Probably the most discussed was the booking of Henderson for a supposed dive in the area. This came after he had dribbled around the keeper and was facing an open goal. He claimed the 'keeper had clipped his ankles and the ref obviously thought he had lost control of the ball and thrown himself down. I couldn't say one way or the other from my spot in the stands, but from replays it is almost impossible to make a decision because the ref was behind the keeper and unable to see the whole of the action. Did he get a call from his lino? He didn't speak, so probably not. No one thinks the referees are bent or biased, so I suppose some just don't have the ability to make the correct split-second decisions.

Curiously, though only a draw, because of going two down and looking out of it, in the end I felt more upbeat than the win on Saturday.

Since the departure of Guedioura, we have been short of a defensive midfielder. Moussi was tried on Saturday . He made me nervous and obviously did not satisfy Billy Davies because he was dropped for the Boro game. Billy's team selection for the Barnsley game was widely criticised by fans and we seemed to have a defensive problem, with the DM position up in the air and Wilson injured, though no info has been given on the extent of his problem. To this end, the very promising Chelsea youngster Nathan Chalobah has been signed on loan until January. Hopefully both Chalobah and Wilson will be in the team as we head for Doncaster on Saturday. Donny have been something of a bogey team for us in the recent past, so it will be good to get something out of this one.