Although their musical career spans almost 30 years, Deacon Blue did not look a day older as they thrilled their fans at The Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, as part of their short winter tour to promote their new album; A New House.

This six piece band provided an almost two hour set list where their own blend of pop, rock, blues and country style music really hit the spot. Ricky Ross was preening, posturing and striking a pose just as he did back in the late 80's, whilst Lorraine McIntosh was a fireball of movement as she energised the stage.

Opening with two new numbers; Bethlehem Begins and Wild, it was clear that the band is back at its best. Queen Of The New Year got the crowd's blood pumping before a few ballads and some funky guitar tracks made way for the 1989 hit, When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring).

A barrage of hits brought the show to a close; Loaded, Raintown, Real Gone Kid and after a Twitter troll preamble, there was the long awaited Fergus Sings The Blues, before bringing the set to a close with That's What We Can Do from The Hipsters album.

The band returned to the stage for an encore which included The Long Way Home, the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic, I'll Never Fall In Love Again and what would have been a fitting end to any night, an audience led Dignity.

Deacon Blue are, well, Deacon Blue. They have a winning formula and quite rightly don't deviate from it. It is a tour to promote a new album, and a good album it is, but for a large proportion of this crowd, it was the hits that they had come to hear and they weren't disappointed.

by Kevin Cooper

ONE of the biggest supporters of extending Nottingham's tram system is to step down as a councillor in May.

Steve Barber, Labour, has represented the Beeston Rylands on Broxtowe Borough Council for the last eight years.

He was chair of a group supporting extending the tram to Beeston before he was first elected in May 2007.

And since then, he has continued to back the extension until it was approved by Government in 2011 and has said he would like to see further extensions to Kimberley.

Mr Barber said he would continue "playing until the final whistle" at the elections in May.

He added: "The over-riding reason is health. I have high blood pressure which was the reason for my early retirement and I am not a person who can sit back once in a position.

"When I took office 8 years ago I set out a series of major aims and I now look back on these. The tram, although more painful largely due to the Utilities, it is now almost finished.

"Beeston Station, I wanted to see patronage top 500,000. It's easily broken this record with year on year growth to become the third busiest in Nottingham and Notts.

"It has been a pleasure and honour to deal with the many items which have come from the people who matter: residents."

A café that once featured in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet could be knocked down and replaced with a Mercedes garage.

The Clifton Bridge Café, in Wilford's Clifton Lane, is subject to plans by landowner Pentagon Investments Ltd to turn it into a commercial vehicle sales dealership and workshop.

It was run by three generations of the same family for more than 50 years until it closed in January.

The transport café, often used as a resting point for lorry drivers, featured in TV shows Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Z Cars, Woof! and Crossroads.

But now it could be demolished along with two adjoining houses as part of the planning application being considered by Nottingham City Council.

Lily Dawson, 86, has lived at the Stepping Stones Retirement Park next door for 26 years.

She said: "I was sad to see it close and miss the café because it was a good place to go for a quick coffee and we used to see some nice people."

Her son John Dawson, 64, of Ruddington, said: "I used to go there every day when I worked as a binman. It was open 24 hours a day and was well-used.

"It looks like a ghost town at the moment so it would be good to make the area look nicer - Mercedes would be a good addition."

Malcom Duck, 84, of Somerton Avenue in the Silverdale estate, Wilford, said: "I'd rather see it turned into an Aldi because the nearest one for us is in Radford. It would be a good size for that type of store."

Clifton North ward city councillor Roger Steel, a planning committee member, said he had "fond memories" of visiting the café.

He said: "I'd pop in for beans on toast at any time of the day and was given a great welcome.

"It was a local dynasty and I was sad to see it close. It was a well-used facility - like the McDonald's of it's day with food served at any time."

The last people to run the café were Frank and Sue Moran, who had been there since 1986. They said they worked there for seven days a week before selling it in November last year.

The proposed scheme would see the site taken over by Mertrux, owned by Pentagon Investments and an East Midlands dealer for Mercedes-Benz.

It would sell and maintain commercial vehicles, including lorries, vans and cars.

The dealer has another site on the Willow Road industrial estate in Lenton but it said in a planning statement it "falls well short of (Mercedes') corporate franchise requirement".

Mertrux would use both sites, with the sales operation and van servicing based at the 5,800 sqm Clifton Lane branch.

MUM Abbie Gillott says she is fed up with the persistent flea problem in her council house - and is worried that her newborn baby will start getting bitten if they stay there any longer.

Miss Gillott, who lives in a Nottingham City Homes rented house in Frinton Road, Broxtowe, said she has tried everything to get rid of the parasites since moving into the property on October 20, but nothing seems to work.

And she says she has been waiting weeks for Nottingham City Council to deal with the problem for the second time.

She said: "I was happy when I moved into the property but when I started to put the heating on I noticed the fleas coming out. They were everywhere - it was horrible."

The 19-year-old - who was eight months pregnant at the time - said she got in touch with Nottingham City Council straight away, and even sent them a sample of a flea when requested.

But she claims they took a while to respond, so paid £80 for someone private to come out and spray the house.

She said the property was sprayed again by the council a few days later.

"After it was sprayed the first time [by the council] there wasn't much of a change - I could still see odd ones hatching, so I called them again" she added.

At this point Miss Gillott had just given birth to her son, Kayle, and was worried about him getting bitten when she brought him home.

She said: "The council asked for me to send another sample but I said I couldn't do it because I had just come out of hospital and had a newborn baby. I said they should just come out because I have already had a problem."

Fearing for her son's health she took matters into her own hands and began putting down flea bombs, sprays, and powders - but to no avail.

She added: "I just need to get out of here. It is stressing me out. Nothing is working and they are still there. I have been bitten several times and if they are on me they are bound to be on him, although he hasn't been bitten yet."

Miss Gillott said in the meantime she has been staying at her partner's house David Hallam, in St Ann's.

Martin Cooke, team leader for environmental health at Nottingham City Council, said: "We are very sympathetic to Miss Gillott's situation and understand that she is concerned about her newborn baby.

"However, we were not made aware when we came out to treat the property that Miss Gillott had already instructed a private firm to do the same thing. She has also used products herself on the furnishings more than once.

"When a treatment is applied, it has to be left down for the full three weeks of the flea's breeding cycle to be effective. This is because the chemical can't kill the flea inside the egg, but only as it hatches, and the property has to be occupied and warm for this to happen.

"Unfortunately, our treatment has not been allowed to work its course and we feel that it would be unsafe to add more chemicals at this stage, especially with a young baby in the house. We will be contacting Miss Gillott this week to discuss the situation with her further."

Step back in time to the swinging 60s this Sunday with an old-school video of Nottingham's city centre.

The video shows clips of the Council House, the Old Market Square and the buses and traffic waltzing down the city's roads.

Tell us your favourite memory of Nottingham in the 60s in the comments below...

ENGLAND head into the final one-day international of their tour of Sri Lanka on Tuesday with question marks still hovering over the status of Alastair Cook as captain.

The 90-run defeat on Saturday at Pallekele, in which Notts' James Taylor scored only ten, meant England were 4-2 down in the series with just one ODI to play.

For Cook that is a fifth successive series defeat as captain, while his form with the bat in limited-overs cricket is also not pulling up any trees.

He has scored just 87 runs in five games on the tour thus far, as well as being suspended for one game due to a poor over rate, and has only managed one half century in his last 21 one-day internationals.

The England management remain fully behind their skipper as the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in January and February draws closer, although following their latest defeat at the weekend coach Peter Moores offered "no guarantee".

He told the media: "Alastair has said very clearly that he is very keen to carry on, and wants to remain as captain of England.

"He knows nobody has got the guarantee of that.

"I hear people say someone's unsackable. That would be a ridiculous comment.

"We've got four selectors, and we always pick what we think is the best team – and that will be no different, moving forward."

One of those selectors is Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell, who will help review the current series once over on Tuesday.

A 16-man England squad is then named on Saturday to head to Australia for a tri-series tournament against the hosts and India, with one of those players to drop out when the final World Cup squad is announced on January 7.

The Cook situation could impact on Notts duo Taylor and Alex Hales who are in competition with their skipper, as well as Ian Bell, for places at the top of the order.

Of his two games out of the six played in Sri Lanka, Hales has scored 27 batting at number three and then got a duck opening the batting when Cook was banned.

Taylor, meanwhile, has put himself in with a great chance after knocks of 90 and 68 in the fourth and fifth ODIs respectively, although his ten in the sixth fixture dented that good run of scores.

With England chasing 293 to win, after Kumar Sangakkara's 20th century in his last one-day international on his home ground, Sachithra Senanayake then got Cook out in the first over before removing Taylor for ten when the Notts Outlaws skipper went up the wicket only for the ball to slide past the closed face of his bat and dislodge the off bail.

For Harry Gurney, meanwhile, the Notts left-armer played in the first two one-day clashes on the World Cup warm-up tour but appears to have dropped out of favour as the selectors go for Steven Finn alongside Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan in their seam attack.

Unless he gets the nod in the seventh and final ODI of the tour this week in Colombo, Gurney's place in the squad for Australia and then the World Cup looks in doubt.

A60 Nottingham Rd, Mansfield

Nottingham Rd/Portland Rd/Annesley Rd, Hucknall

B6030 Sherwood Hall Rd/Clipstone Rd, Mansfield

A6191 Southwell Rd West, Mansfield

Kirkby Road, Sutton in Ashfield

Church Hill, Kirkby in Ashfield, Notts

B6040 Retford Rd, Worksop 40 limit section

A631 Gringley to Beckingham (Nr Mutton Lane)

A616 Ollerton Rd, Caunton

B6041 Kilton Hill, Worksop

Raymoth and Thievesdale Lane, Worksop

A611 Hucknall Rd, Nottingham

A6200/A52 Derby Rd, Nottingham

Beechdale Rd/Hollington Rd/Wigman Rd, Nottingham

Radford Boulevard / Lenton Boulevard, Nottingham

B6004 Strelley Rd/Broxtowe Lane/ Stockhill Lane

A6002, Bilborough Road, Nottingham

Glaisedale Drive, Bilborough, Nottingham

Nottingham Rd / Leake Rd, Gotham

B600 Nottingham Rd / Kimberley Rd, Nuthall

Shelford Road, Radcliffe on Trent

Clifton Road, Ruddington

Unleaded

1. Asda, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, 114.7p

2. Asda, Radford Road, Hyson Green, 114.7p

3. Tesco Toton Extra, Swiney Way, 115.9p

4. Tesco Long Eaton Extra, Waverley Street, 115.9p

5. Sainsbury's Castle Boulevard, Castle Bridge Road, 116.9p

Diesel

1. Asda Nottingham, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, 119.7p

2. Asda Hyson Green, Radford Road, Hyson Green, 119.7p

3. Asda Long Eaton Automat, Midland Street, Long Eaton, 119.7p

4. Mpk Carrington, Hucknall Road, Carrington, 119.9p

5. Brobot Bunny, Loughborough Road, Bunny, 119.9p

Nottingham Panthers young gun Jordan Cownie picked up a host of accolades following the conclusion of the World Championship tournament in Tallinn at the weekend.

The GB U20 team were already the winners of the round-robin competition after their victory over Korea on Friday, to help them gain promotion to Division 1B next year, but the team crowned off a fine week with a 3-1 win over hosts Estonia in their final game.

Another Panthers young gun Lewis Hook scored twice and was named player of the game for GB, while Bobby Chamberlain added an empty net goal.

But it was Cownie who then took centre stage when the end of tournament awards were dished out.

The forward, who plays for MK Lightning in the lower league alongside turning out for the Panthers in midweek games, was named GB's player of the tournament.

At the end of tournament presentation ceremony, Cownie was also named the tournament's best forward – voted by all competing teams – while he also picked up the GB Supporters Club player award.

ILKESTON FC are on the march in the Evo-Stik Northern League Premier Division as they made it eight wins in a row in all competitions.

The Robins' latest win was a 4-2 success away to Trafford which keeps them fourth but sees them just nine points off leaders Skelmersdale United but with five games in hand.

Ilkeston also have two games in hand on second-placed Curzon Ashton, who they trail by four points, while Kevin Wilson's men are just two points behind third-placed Buxton with three games in hand.

The Robins also have the best goal difference of the top four sides, at plus 20, and their 4-2 triumph on the weekend saw them hit 50 goals for the season after 22 games.

Rob Duffy gave them the lead as early as the second minute and it was 2-0 on 12 minutes thanks to James Reid.

The hosts levelled through Cliff Moyo and an own goal from David Morgan, but Ashley Hunter gave Ilkeston the lead once more on the hour and Kane Richards added a fourth in stoppage time to make sure of the points.

In the Evo-Stik First Division South, Carlton Town's game at Coalville was off due to a frozen pitch, while Rainworth Miners Welfare lost 5-2 at Sutton Coldfield Town – Emeka Nwadike and Gino Kelleher netting in the second half in the loss.

Meanwhile, the Football Association has confirmed that Midland Football League sides Basford United and Long Eaton United, as well as reformed NCEL Premier outfit Worksop Town, have applied for promotion to the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League next season.

They are among a host of clubs to apply, some of which will be playing at the highest level in their history if they can finish high enough in their league and pass the necessary ground grading tests.

And all three of these teams tasted fine victories on Saturday.

Long Eaton remain three points clear in the Midland Premier after a 5-2 win at Brocton, with Basford still hot on their heels in second after their own 2-0 away win at Westfields thanks to a Ruben Wiggins-Thpmas brace.

The goals, one in each half, capped a fine performance by Basford, who fielded three 18-year-olds in the side and were good value for the win.

The opener, ten minutes before half time, was a superb solo effort.

Taking a pass from the impressive Blair Anderson, Wiggins-Thomas broke down the left and evaded three challenges before cutting inside to score.

The second came after 69 minutes, again involving Anderson, whose low cross from the left was turned in by the striker.

Basford keeper Saul Deeney made excellent stops from Craig Jones and Marcus Palmer, while debutant Jahred Russell came close to a third ten minutes from the end but his shot came back off the angle of post and bar.

Worksop enjoyed a 10-0 thrashing of Glasshoughton Welfare in the league in front of 338.

Connor Sellars and Mitch Husbands both scored hat-tricks, while there were two each for Conor Higginson and Chris Whincop.

In the East Midlands Counties League, Radford won 3-0 at home to Ashby Ivanhoe with all the goals coming in the second half through Dave Udoh and Hemagou Kevin within three minutes of the restart and then a later goal from Sheriff Babatunde.

Radford keeper Callum Dunning had to make some great saves to keep a clean sheet.

Arnold Town beat Blaby & Whetstone Athletic 4-0 at home thanks to Stephen Cox (2), a James Price penalty and Courtney Hastings, while Gedling Miners Welfare won 6-2 at Borrowash Victoria with a hat-trick from Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, two for Mitchell Slawson and one for Luke Adam-Stanley.

Radcliffe Olympic, however, lost 6-2 themselves at Ellistown & Ibstock United – their goals coming from Kenneth Reeves and Lee Potts.

Selected non-league football results for Saturday, December 13:

FA Trophy: Lincoln City 0 Alfreton Town 2

Evo-Stik Premier Division: Curzon Ashton 2 Grantham Town 4, Trafford 2 Ilkeston FC 4

Evo-Stik First Division South: Loughborough Dynamo 1 Romulus 2, Sutton Coldfield Town 5 Rainworth Miners Welfare 2

Midlands Football League Premier: Brocton 2 Long Eaton United 5, Dunkirk 2 Coventry Sphinx 2, Kirby Muxloe 4 Shepshed Dynamo 2, Walsall Wood 3 Loughborough University 0, Westfields 0 Basford United 2

Northern Counties East League Premier: Worksop Town 10 Glasshoughton Welfare 0

Northern Counties East League Division One: Shirebrook Town 3 Knaresborough Town 2

East Midlands Counties League: Arnold Town 4 Blaby & Whetstone Athletic 0, Borrowash Victoria 2 Gedling Miners Welfare 6, Ellistown & Ibstock United 6 Radcliffe Olympic 2, Radford FC 3 Ashby Ivanhoe 0

ADAM Murray has warned he will not tolerate any 'passengers' in his new Mansfield Town regime.

The Stags are still too close to the League Two relegation zone for comfort, slipping down to 19th place following their 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham Town.

With the January transfer window coming up, it seems Murray is planning to make changes – and he has told his squad to shape up or face being shipped out.

"People know how I was as a player, and I'm not someone who takes second best," said the manager.

"I refuse to take any passengers – get on board, do what I'm asking you to do, come to the party or go find another party.

"They are all going to get an opportunity. They've all been brilliant for me. But there are standards.

"If you can't hit that standard, that's fair enough, but don't expect to be sitting around my dressing room.

"At the minute, these boys have given me everything, and they continue to do so.

"I've said to them, there will be no rubbish talk from me. You will have honesty. You will have black and white. What I say, I'll do. What you ask of me, I'll try to do. And I'll always give 110 per cent.

"If people can't hit the standards then we'll have to look elsewhere."

Mansfield had plenty of possession against the Robins, but created few chances, with Vadaine Oliver's opener one of only two efforts on target.

Murray accepts it will take time to implement his style of play, though with Stags having recorded just one win in their last 11 games there is a need to turn results around quickly.

"At the minute, we don't know how to win a football match," he said. "We're probably lacking a little bit of leadership and a little bit of character at times.

"In games, when we are going through a rough period, people have got to stand forward.

"We have prepared them thoroughly. They couldn't have been any more prepared. At some point, you have to take ownership as a footballer."

BRISTOL City remain one point clear of Swindon at the top of League One after both enjoyed victories and clean sheets.

While the Robins playing at Meadow Lane enjoyed a 3-0 success, their rivals with the same nickname won 1-0 at home against Crawley.

But Steve Cotterill's side had looked in danger of being knocked off the summit until Luke Ayling struck in the 87th minute.

Preston and MK Dons both lost ground on the front two after drawing 1-1.

Sheffield United sit fifth and also drew 1-1, at Fleetwood, while Rochdale make up the play-off spots after a fine 4-1 win at Colchester with Matthew Lund, Peter Vincenti, Ian Henderson (penalty) and Jack O'Connell on target.

Dale sit on 30 points, as do the Magpies, Oldham and Peterborough.

Crewe remain at the foot of the table following a 2-1 loss at Scunthorpe, with Luke Williams and Miguel Angel Llera netting.

League One results: Bristol City 1 Crawley 0, Chesterfield 0 Bradford 1, Colchester 1 Rochdale 4, Doncaster 1 Gillingham 2, Fleetwood 1 Sheff Utd 1, Leyton Orient 1 Peterborough 2, Notts County 0 Swindon 3, Oldham 0 Yeovil 4, Port Vale 0 Coventry 2, Preston 1 MK Dons 1, Scunthorpe 2 Crewe 1, Walsall 3 Barnsley 1

BOURNEMOUTH became the latest team to lead the Championship standings in a season where the top end of the table is very congested – with two points now separating the top five.

Matt Ritchie, Harry Arter, Marc Pugh, Yann Kermorgant and Callum Wilson were on target for the Cherries in a 5-3 win over Cardiff at home.

Middlesbrough are below them on goal difference after they knocked Derby off the top with a 2-0 win at the Riverside – former Forest youngster Patrick Bamford netting the first.

Jonathan Douglas, Andre Gray and Jose Ramallo struck as Brentford beat Blackburn 3-1 to sit fifth and two off the top.

Watford are sixth after they won 2-1 at home against Wigan and their old boss Malky Mackay, while Norwich were in the goals as they beat Huddersfield 5-0 at Carrow Road.

Nottingham Forest are now five points off the play-offs and nine off top spot in ninth place after their 0-0 draw at Rotherham.

Birmingham made it four wins in their last six league gams with a 6-1 win over Reading at home.

Championship results: Middlesbrough 2 Derby 0, Birmingham 6 Reading 1, Bolton 0 Ipswich 0, Bournemouth 5 Cardiff 3, Brentford 3 Blackburn 1, Charlton 2 Blackpool 2, Leeds 0 Fulham 1, Norwich 5 Huddersfield 0, Rotherham 0 Nottm Forest 0, Sheff Wed 0 Wolves 1, Watford 2 Wigan 1

JAMIE Paterson says now is the time for Nottingham Forest's new-look squad to find their feet in the Championship.

The winger believes it is unfair to say Stuart Pearce's side have underachieved so far, as a host of new signings have settled into life at the City Ground.

But Paterson does acknowledge that, having had 21 matches in which to find their feet, Forest's squad must now start to produce the goods, if they want to put together a challenge for a top-six finish this season.

"I don't think we are underachieving. This is a team that is full of a lot of new players and we are all finding out about each other. We are a few months into the season now and I do feel that things are starting to click together," said Paterson.

"The attacking power we have does give you the confidence that we can get moving in the right direction again, definitely. We are only a few points off the play-offs still and if we can keep in and around there, we will be okay.

"Every team has a dip in form sometimes and we feel that, if we can have a little good run, we can get back to where we want to be.

"I would rather that happens towards the end of the season, so that we have a chance to get to where we want to be at the right time. But we know we need to get a few wins now, sooner rather than later.

"We are working hard as a team. We are very hard to beat, which is always a good starting point. We just need to score a few goals, to get our confidence up a little more – then we will be flying.

"It is still early days, it is not Christmas yet and you will have seen over the years that a lot can change, if you can get a run of five or six good results going.

"It is that sort of league and, as long as we are in and around the top six, going into the last few months, I think we have a good chance. We believe that we can be there."

Paterson, who has produced two lively performances after being given a chance in the starting line-up, felt Forest could have snatched three points at Rotherham, despite never being at their best in South Yorkshire.

The visitors were under-par for much of the game, but did finish strongly, with Britt Assombalonga inches away from connecting with a Paterson cross at the far post, in the final stages.

Paterson also felt Forest were unfortunate to see a Dexter Blackstock header chalked off for a push.

"I feel as though we always finish the games well. We had a good couple of opportunities at the end, to snatch all three points. I feel as though we were a little unfortunate, when you look at Dexter's header and a couple of crosses we had flashed across the box," said Paterson.

"We just need that one last minute goal to give us a boost. We can go on a decent run, we just need something to get us started; to give us that spark."

BLAIR Adams admitted Notts County could not deal with Swindon Town's quality of football as the Robins maintained their automatic promotion hopes with a 3-0 win at Meadow Lane.

Two goals from Andy Williams and a strike from Massimo Luongo sealed victory against Notts, who had Liam Noble sent off.

Notts created very little in the way of clear cut chances as Swindon bossed possession for large spells.

And Adams said Notts had to admit they were beaten by the better side.

"It was a disappointing result," he said. "They are a very strong team and you can see why they are where they are.

"I would be very surprised if they are not up there in the promotion spots at the end of the season.

"We knew they were a good team and we were ready for it.

"Unfortunately we started poorly, we conceded early and needed to react from that.

"We've had a man sent off second half and it's made it even tougher for us.

"But they were better than us and that's unfortunate.

"They play football the right way and we just couldn't deal with it."

Adams (pictured) said the Magpies' job became much harder in the wake of Noble's dismissal, which was a result of a challenge on Nathan Thompson.

But the former Coventry defender said he refused to give up in his quest to try to overcome the odds and create the unlikeliest of comebacks.

"It's always going to be hard with a man down," he said. "We had to keep digging in and that's what we tried to do.

"We tried to keep pressing and force a mistake. It's football and anything can happen.

"We got beat by the better side, but the beautiful thing about football is we have another game when we can put it right."

COREY Neilson believes Nottingham Panthers started far too slowly – in every sense – as they slumped to a 6-3 defeat against Belfast Giants.

Panthers were 2-0 down inside four minutes as head coach Neilson blamed a lack of intensity from the warm-up onwards against their Elite League title rivals.

He said: "I don't think we were very good. We were slow getting out the gates.

"We had a full day off on Saturday. We couldn't get on the ice.

"Sometimes that works to your benefit, sometimes it doesn't.

"The NIC is booked solid so we couldn't get on the ice. You saw in the warm-up we were shockingly poor and I thought we might improve but we were slow.

"It does happen. There's no real excuse for it, but we were slow. The guys looked slow in the first period and I don't think they got much faster after it.

"Belfast worked hard. They played with a lot of desperation and earned their luck.

"You have to expend of energy chasing games. Belfast made it tough for us skating real well and being physical.

"When you play like that you give yourselves a chance.

"It's hard when you keep losing goals."

Neilson did take some solace from an ever improving power play as Panthers scored all three goals from that route.

They also conceded two, but he felt both contained a large element of good fortune.

"The power play was real good. We moved the puck and created chances," he said.

"The penalty kill was good. Obviously their final goal whacked off the board and came straight to their guy which sucks.

"The other one was a rebound that hit Cody (Wild) in the shoulder and went in.

"When you play hard all night long you get those kind of lucky bounces."

THE Football League are expected to officially confirm that Nottingham Forest are one of several clubs to be hit by a transfer embargo, within the space of the next 24 hours.

The Reds hierarchy have been preparing themselves to face sanctions for some time, having breached financial fair play loss limits for the 2013/14 season by some distance.

But League officials are expected to officially confirm that Forest, along with at least two other clubs – understood to include Leeds and Blackburn – will be the first to be placed under a transfer embargo, from January 1, having breached allowable losses of £8m last season.

As outlined in the Post in recent weeks, Forest will still be free to make new additions when the window opens, although they will have to operate within a complex set of guidelines.

Stuart Pearce will still be able to sign a minimum of two players in January, either on loan or on free transfers, when the window opens.

Under the tweaked FFP regulations approved in November, Championship clubs are permitted to retain a squad of 24 'established' professional players, beyond January.

Currently Forest's squad has 22 men who fall into that category of 'established' players who are over the age of 21 and have made five or more starts for the first team.

Beyond those two additions, Forest would also be able to make further signings on a one in, one out basis, within certain wage parameters.

Some doubt still remains over the whether the rules may be tweaked again or even enforced in their current form, in the longer term, with clubs in the Championship keeping a careful eye on the fate of Premier League Queens Park Rangers, who are set to challenge their proposed fine of between £50m to £60m, for failing to fall within allowable losses during the 2013/14 season, when they secured promotion.

If QPR are successful in contesting their punishment it would, in theory, set a precedent and open up the door for any Championship clubs who are hit with a transfer embargo, and, beyond that, fines, in the coming months to take similar action further down the line.

Meanwhile, Steve Wigley admits Nottingham Forest must rediscover their quality as a matter of urgency – but believes their cutting edge will be enough to get them climbing the table eventually.

The Reds assistant manager said they had produced a below par performance at Rotherham and conceded that Forest do need to improve.

But 0-0 draw was only the fourth time Forest have failed to find the back of the net in the Championship this season and Wigley believes their firepower will soon come to the fore again.

"That is the thing, it is not like us to lack that cutting edge. We know we need to pass it better than we did, but in terms of cutting edge, we normally have one; we normally have goals in us," said Wigley.

"If people told us we would keep a clean sheet here, I would be confident that we would be taking three points home with us.

"But we did not do that, in what was a tight game. They did not have many opportunities either, only shots from distance really.

"Rotherham have done ever so well, but we know we need to move up a level with our quality. We do know that."