Middlesbrough 1 Nottingham Forest 1.

Nov 22 2009 by Mark Douglas, Sunday Sun

GORDON STRACHAN has skipped his Riverside honeymoon and gone straight to the trouble and strife.

Three games without a win and with the Championship’s pacesetters rapidly disappearing over the horizon, the fiery Scot has a mammoth task on his hands to turn unconvincing Boro into genuine promotion contenders.

Perfect on paper but problematic on the pitch, Boro’s supposed Premier League pedigree counted for little against Forest’s fearless young bucks.

Handed a golden opportunity when Leroy Lita rolled home the simplest of chances after just five minutes, Boro’s subsequent demise was as frustrating as it was predictable. But the worrying thing was how clearly Forest outplayed Strachan’s men during a second half that was painful to watch at times.

Indeed, it was Billy Davies’ swashbuckling side who looked more like the pre-season promotion favourites, as they carved open Boro with poise and purpose.

You couldn’t fault Boro for effort or desire, but when it came to the touch of quality or composure that separates the wheat from the chaff in this ordinary division, their ambition duly evaporated.

The muffled boos at the end spoke volumes. The Boro bounce following Gareth Southgate’s sacking has disappeared and cold, hard reality is beginning to set in - the Championship will be no cake walk for this set of players.

At least in Strachan they have manager who will face this challenge head on. With laudable honesty, he admitted he had made no progress since taking over in his post-match Press conference.

You don’t carve out a reputation like Strachan’s without having your head screwed on and the Boro boss will be working overtime to line up the right players in January. He needs experience, firepower and a couple of midfield scrappers because without them there will be plenty more afternoons like this on Teeside.

A few moves in the right direction have already been made, and for 45 minutes new loan signings Isaiah Osbourne and Dave Kitson added some much-needed devilment to Boro’s callow side as Forest were kept at arm’s length.

But when the visitors began rolling through the gears in the second half, there was precious little in the way of resistance from the red and white shirts.

To think the afternoon started so well when Boro raced into a fifth- minute lead.

As has been the case so often this season, Adam Johnson was the instigator with a driving run on the left flank before laying off for the advancing Julio Arca. It looked as if he had taken a touch too many as he untidily steadied himself for an effort at goal but he was able to unleash a snap shot that Lee Camp could only parry into the path of the grateful Lita.