HUGH’LL HAVE TO BATTLE
Chairboys won’t give us an inch warns Chris
CHRIS HUGHTON has warned his Nottingham Forest players to be ready to “battle” today.
They visit Championship basement club Wycombe aiming for back-toback away wins after their victory over Coventry on Tuesday thanks to a Michael Rose own goal.
Promoted Wycombe are nine points adrift at the bottom of the division.
But Forest manager Hughton said: “Although their resources mean they have found this season difficult, they are still a very competitive side who will battle for every single ball and make life extremely tough for us. What you need when you play Wycombe is complete commitment and the right attitude because they will always give it everything and you need to make sure you match that.
“To say they are simply a direct side is doing them an injustice because they have some quality players in their team and results this season have shown that.
“At home they’ve held teams like Watford, Brentford and most recently Birmingham, so they enjoy playing on their own turf.” In the opposite technical area, Gareth Ainsworth insists Wycombe will not gamble their way out of their current predicament.
The Chairboys chief (inset) is still reeling from last Saturday’s
7-2 thrashing at Brentford, admitting he made a huge mistake with his attacking emphasis.
And he reckons the only way they can make up their 12-point deficit to 21st-placed Birmingham is with battling, workmanlike performances.
He said: “We need to start winning games if we want to survive. But we cannot go gung-ho and open up against teams – we tried that against Brentford and conceded three times in a few minutes.
“We have to graft, be solid and hopefully get some moments of quality. There are some real winnable games coming up.” Ainsworth is considering starting former Forest star Garath Mccleary for the first time since January 2. He said: “Garath is a cracking player. He has quality.
“He’s been injured, he’s been missed but he is back now and fresh. I have some decisions to make.”