As I write, I realise that I am boring myself to death. Statements of the bleeding obvious are all right for media hacks, but, as Captain Nemo said in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, we tread a different path.

Frankly, it was a bloody awful experience, this match. They're all bloody awful these days. Being surrounded by people who say stuff like "God this is f***ING crap" or "Typical f***ing Forest" doesn't help. Watching Murillo bundle the ball into his own net was greeted by a second or two of frozen silence as if everybody had died. Then the away fans produced that hollow echo of celebration. Awful.

So, one down, key players like Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White not doing the business, the Forest attack looking delinquent, Villa starting to look flashy, and fans cursing their dads for introducing them to this basket case of a club in the first place. Watching Forest has become the outdoor equivalent of doom-scrolling.

Until Neco scored, and the least hyped player turns out to be the best player in the team. He'd already made Villa's replacement keeper squirm, but he met CHO's lay off with a vicious low drive which found the bottom corner. It struck me, and I'm sure many others, that Neco has become the heart of Forest, the shy bloke who gives everything for the cause, a true leader by example. Good man.

I could say that the rest of the match was a more satisfying experience, what with Forest playing a bit better and Spurs losing and Chris Wood coming on and the crowd cheering up, but it wasn't. It was too open, too nerve wracking for that. Even the feeling of happy relief at the end was spoiled by doubt. "We needed three points, not one," moaned Mister Grump. "Forest still can't win at home," moaned Missis Grump. "I don't want to go any more," moaned Child Grump.

But we can't leave it at that, can we? Let's employ a bit of hindsight to readjust our views. We began by talking about stress and hype. We've done the stress, so here's the hype. It mostly concerns The Stylish Morgan Rogers and Olly Popkins.

For a team surrounded by so much media hype, Villa were a disappointment. The Stylish Morgan Rogers cocked up several chances, and even his goal assist was a blind cross resulting in a fluke. And Olly Popkins is no more capable of "moments of brilliance" than an own-brand rice pudding. We suspect this has something to do with Thomas Tookle, but we aren't quite sure why. And the Villa manager talks incoherent Klingon bollocks, like Pep Guardiola, which has to be translated before we can recognise his true mastery of the managerial arts.

In short, Forest have little to fear from any of the media favourites, which probably means everybody bar us. We can match anybody for courage, determination, resilience, fight and goalkeeping excellence, and if we've got a few goals left in the bucket, we'll be okay.

Until then, look after yourselves, but if anybody tells you to "embrace the fear", kill them.