Forest Boss Colin Calderwood On Tonight

Last updated : 01 April 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Colin Calderwood
Tricky Trees manager Colin Calderwood spoke to the Nottingham Evening Post and his club's official website ahead of the big match at Brunton Park tonight, Calderwood hoping to change the statistic that has seen Forest fail to score against Doncaster, Carlisle or Swansea so far this season :


"You would be here for hours and hours looking at tapes right now, because there are so many permutations of the play-offs. But we are compiling a library, we are getting videos together of the teams round and about us, so we will be able to access that very quickly when the situation does become clear.

"We wanted to be going there chasing them (Carlisle), but to do that we had to do our job on Friday and we didn't. We can't let disappointment affect us. We have to focus on training and the next two games. It is a disappointment that we are not as close as we could be to the top two. That all changed on Friday night, but we have to move on very quickly now.

"Not scoring against any of the top three is an unwanted record. We are probably the only team that hasn't beaten one of the other teams right up at the top, although we did beat Southend and they are in fourth place now. It is very tight so the difficulty of this game does not help us to cement that place in the play-offs. But, ideally, we will do that quickly.

"We need to get the points on board then we can focus on what we need to do in the last two or three games of the season. We have got to make sure that, at a minimum, we are in the play-offs, which means we have to go to Carlisle and produce a performance. We have to go to big places and win. We have to beat our immediate opposition, which we have not done.

"Often one break has been enough to decide things. If we had got the break on Friday night, by getting the first goal, then we would have gone away with a win, I guarantee it. Against Carlisle we had one or two very good chances as well. In the games against Swansea we had chances at home. We did not have an opportunity away from home against them, but similarly neither did they."



"We have got to try to win promotion. It is not something that overly concerns me. It is not something I sit and think about. I live in the immediate future and that future is going to Carlisle, to try to get into the right frame of mind to get the result we need - and only then do we move on from there. We want to hit the play-offs with fitness and buoyancy and we have got to make sure we are there first. Our first job is to guarantee that. Then we can look at our strategy to take us through the play-offs.

"They (Carlisle) are excellent defensively and you only have to look at the stats to see it is going to be a tough place to win and to score freely. But games can open up, as you see with the Tottenham v Newcastle game. They can change in a flash. A team that never looks capable of scoring four suddenly goes and does it. You see teams that have a good home record spiked by a surprise result. That is what we have to hope for.

"Carlisle's record at home is remarkable - absolutely remarkable - and I've no doubts it's down to their organisation. They are a good side with great discipline and in Danny Graham they have a goal-scorer who is playing particularly well.

"It would give us a real lift to go and do that and we will be positive about it. There are seven to go and we have to get back to what we were doing before. The performance level, for it to vary as it did between Northampton and Doncaster, is just too much. We should have played better, we all know that. But we have taken a long hard look at ourselves and we will come out fighting.

"There is no use going with a whimper to Carlisle. Somebody has got to go there and spike them. We hope it will be us. We've got the chance to play another game pretty quickly and try and brighten ourselves up. We hope to come out of tonight's game looking forward rather than gnashing our teeth in frustration."