Leeds slipped out of the play-off places as their disappointing Christmas campaign continued with defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Brian McDermott made just one change to the side that drew in such disappointing fashion on Boxing Day at Blackpool, Luke Murphy was recalled at the expense of Michael Tonge, Inside the opening exchanges Tom Lees had one of those moments when his short back-pass nearly let in makeshift forward Greg Halford, Paddy Kenny taking a clattering for his trouble.

However the limitations of McDermott's squad were laid bare when Michael Brown clattered Andy Reid on 23 minutes. The portly Irishman stepped up and swung in a free-kick which Halford headed across goal into the back of Kenny's net.

And Leeds could have fallen further behind when Reid clipped Kenny's crossbar. It was one of those Leeds performances void of any creativity and we looked tired, flat and out of ideas.

However, somehow on 83 minutes with our only shot on goal, we looked to have snatched a point when Ross McCormack made it 18 for the season with a left foot shot. However the celebrations had barely ended when Matt Derbyshire popped up with a wonder goal and a winner to send Forest back into the playoff places and us down to seventh.

Admittedly we were not as inept as our previous visit here last Christmas, but it was not a pretty sight and underlined how McDermott's influence has inspired the team to punch above its weight but still fall considerably short of being realistic promotion contenders.

Lets hope his post-match call for the funds to bring in four new players will fall on sympathetic ears and our latest takeover gets the green light early on in the new year. However those of us unlucky enough to return to work today will be remember the feelings of Christmas'es past where poor form over the festive period and lack of investment in the January transfer window saw our promotion push fall away.

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