CRAIG Davies is poised to strike should an opportunity come knocking at the City Ground this afternoon.

The Wales international broke his duck with a goal against Burnley last weekend but does not know whether it will be enough to book a place in Dougie Freedman’s line-up against Nottingham Forest.

Davies admits competition for a spot up front is fierce, with Kevin Davies, David Ngog and Marvin Sordell also in contention.

But the former Barnsley man, who is unbeaten in four meetings against Forest over the course of his career, is not fretting about when his big chance will arrive.

“I can only work hard and bring whatever I can to the team,” he said.

“Everyone is trying to impress the manager on a daily basis and I’m no different. Hopefully, sooner or later, I’ll get a chance to start and kick on from there.

“There are some good strikers here – the skipper, David, Marvin – they are all players who have played at the highest level so I have just got to keep my head down and worry about myself.”

Davies is reluctant to make predictions on whether Wanderers can turn round their season and still mount a push for the play-offs.

A 13-point gap between 17th position, where the Whites currently find themselves and sixth place, where Middlesbrough occupy the last play-off berth, looks a tough one to close.

Today’s game against Forest kick-starts a heavy run of seven games in 21 days, after which the striker at least hopes to be moving up the table.

“Forest is never an easy place to go but, with a new manager, it might be a good time to play them,” he said. “I hope we can take something from that and the Derby game as well.

“That’s everyone’s aim. We should be up there, but the teams that are at the top of the table have just had that little bit more consistency.

“We need to get more consistent, win more games, and climb the table.

“I don’t really want to say about play-offs – hopefully we can just put a string of wins together and then see where we are.”