WE battled our way through the snow on the Woodhead Pass to emerge on to the M1 under clear blue skies.

Following in the footsteps of the Crusaders, we enjoyed a hearty lunch at Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem.

The pre-match discussions were about showing our old boss, Dougie Freedman, just how far we have progressed since his departure.

It all went pear-shaped from the kick-off as we were treated to some kamikaze defending at its worst. Filip Twardzik started the ball rolling.

Two down in 16 minutes, we were fortunate Forest weren’t out of sight by half time.

Tim Ream was carried off with what we feared to be a serious injury as Tim’s not the kind of player to stay down.

We were given a lifeline when Zach Clough won the penalty just before half time and Heskey was brought on to give more punch up front.

Within two minutes of the restart, captain Matt Mills ruined any chance of a fight back with his unnecessary second booking and subsequent red card.

What Matt was thinking only he knows as Dorian Dervite was covering.

Dean Moxey and Emile Heskey completed the comedy of errors, the former causing not only a debatable penalty to be given but also the loss of brave Andy Lonergan, carried off unconscious.

This was an awful performance and the worrying thing is that it seems to becoming a habit away from home.

It’s the third away match in a row that we have conceded four goals and it’s now 19 goals in our last six league matches.

Where has the defence that kept four clean sheets in a row disappeared to?

Neil Lennon needs to find it quick as we have become a soft touch on our travels and most of our remaining away matches are against top teams.

All we managed to show Dougie Freedman was that we have kissed goodbye to the play-offs and we’re not out of the relegation battle.