Nottingham Forest blog: Andy Reid injury is costing Forest dear

In reality, we are in fifth place and haven’t won a game in 450 minutes of league action.

The euphoria has simmered down and the real work is still to be done for Stuart Pearce.

Forest started brightly in Cardiff, and had the lions share of possession in the opening quarter of an hour.

They should have been a goal to the good after 20 minutes, after Chris Burke brilliantly beat two men and beat Marshall with the outside of his foot. However, the impressive Craig Noone cleared off the line to deny the wee Scotsman.

Within a minute Cardiff countered and took the lead thanks to a neat run and shot by Macheda. Hhe was allowed to roam free but for a feeble attempted tackle from Lichaj.

The home side were now in control and Forest looked like fish out of water.

The Welshmen attacked down both flanks and Noone gave Eric Lichaj a very hard time indeed.

The American is struggling at left-back and it was no surprise to see him replaced by Harding, at the break.

Unfortunately Forest went in 2-0 down when yet again poor defending allowed Peter Whittingham to run unchallenged and find the bottom right hand corner, from 25 yards out.

At the other end it was good to see Fryatt back in the side, but he’s a few games away from full fitness just yet.

The second half was pretty much the same until the last 10 minutes, Antonio finally got free of his marker and started to get things going.

His turn and shot were followed up by Assombalonga’s tap in, but he was just offside.

The pair combined brilliantly in the last minute when Antonio crossed for another tap in, this time the top scorer added to his tally and set up a nervy stoppage time period for the home side.

The game finished 2-1 to Cardiff and they fully deserved it, the score line flattered Forest to be honest.

Hat’s off to Russell Slade, he continued his dominance over Forest which stems back to his Yeovil days.

Tactically he got it spot on by playing wingers and defensively shackling Assombalonga and Antonio. As for Pearce, he has a lot to work on, firstly why our passing and ball retention was so poor. He isn’t being helped with injuries and especially the absence of Andy Reid, its no coincidence that we haven’t won without him!

What do you think? Email your views to Stephen Thirkill