The Old Men of Hove were creaking at the end. The Forest fans knew it, greeting the six minutes of added time with a great roar of encouragement. The Hove fans knew it, holding their breath as the ball pinged around their penalty area. But Forest couldn't get past the Hove defence's desperate blocks, and another opportunity was lost.

Another opportunity was lost. How many times have we said this? One day soon, the next opportunity will be the last, and Forest may well blow that, too.

Only MGW played well. Well enough, indeed, to eclipse Anderson, whose limitations have been exposed over the last weeks and months. If we were Thomas Tookle, we would pick MGW over Anderson all day long.

Apart from MGW, player performances were scratchy, sloppy, lethargic or brain dead. It would be easy to criticise individual players but that is a job for people who are angrier than us. We're not angry. We just ache.

If we were angry, we would dismiss claims of player "tiredness" as bogus. Surely these players should relish playing so many games says Mister Angry. But they are tired, physically and mentally tired. That much is obvious. And the reason they are tired and sloppy and distracted is because every too often they find themselves being asked to play and train in a different way - Nuno's way, Ange's way, Dyche's way, Pereira's way - which must be exhausting in itself. Even in this match, they had to adjust to a different formation in the second half. And they have to carry the weight of an entirely inadequate squad, thanks to wretched recruitment, which must be frustrating and dispiriting. People say our squad isn't good enough to cope with the League and the Europa. From where we sit, it doesn't look good enough to cope with the League, full stop. And, of course, not scoring enough and losing game after game drains the spirit. So yes, they are tired. The alternative is to say that they have suddenly become a bunch of frauds, which is simply not true.

We just ache. We have reached the time, again, where we have to juggle two mindsets in one mind. One says biblical stuff like Do not despair, for the Lord is with thee, and thou shalt dwell in the Premier League forever. The other says Convince yourself that the Championship is not such a bad place after all. In other words, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Not that the Championship is the worst. Even League One has some happy memories.

Yes, we're tired too. ManCity next. We may well sleep through the whole match.