Billy Davies was relieved to see Nottingham Forest show no signs of rustiness against Crystal Palace.
Burley disappointed with City Ground showing
Billy Davies was relieved to see Nottingham Forest show no signs of rustiness against Crystal Palace.
The Reds entered Saturday's encounter at the City Ground on the back of an enforced break, with their last two Championship fixtures having been postponed.
They were, however, able to beat the weather this weekend and get their promotion push back on track with a comfortable 3-0 win.
Goals from Luke Chambers, debutant Marcus Tudgay and substitute Garath McCleary secured the points, ensuring Davies was in buoyant mood afterwards.
"I was concerned before the game in view of the amount of time we've had without a match but we changed our training with that in mind and it worked out well," said the Scot.
"Palace made it very difficult for us and it was important that we got the first goal and went on from there. We scored three good goals and the only pity was that we were not even more clinical."
Forest are now unbeaten in 29 league fixtures on home soil, stretching back to September 2009, but Davies feels there is still room for improvement in his squad.
"It was a very important three points for us," he added.
"We've kept our long unbeaten run going and we are sending our fans into the Christmas period happy. It was a nice gift for the supporters.
"But they know and we know that there is a long way to go this season and now it's important that we look forward to the January transfer window and then act quickly. Speed is of the essence to get new blood in and settled in as soon as possible."
One of those who could be staying at the City Ground in the New Year is Arsenal starlet Aaron Ramsey, who Davies continues to use sparingly as he nurses his way back to full fitness during a loan spell on Trentside.
"I didn't start Aaron Ramsey today because he has to be handled carefully," said Davies.
"But he's had another week's training behind him and I am sure he will make a big contribution for us. I would love to extend his loan period."
Horrendous
Palace boss George Burley is also hoping to enjoy a productive New Year after admitting that his side were not good enough on Saturday, with defeat against Forest keeping the Eagles inside the second tier drop zone.
He said: "We never got going and gave away horrendous goals. The first one was a free header, there was no defender marking which there should have been.
"We changed things at half-time, put a striker on to try to get at them and then within a minute we're 2-0 down.
"It was a hard game after that and although we huffed and puffed, we didn't do enough to get back into it.
"Forest looked lively and bright, they haven't had a game for a few weeks and they looked sharp. But the manner in which we gave the goals away for me was very disappointing."
On his transfer plans for the coming weeks, Burley told Palace's official website: "We are trying to get the balance of the squad right but today we lost both Pablo Counago and Darren Ambrose with injuries. We will be looking to strengthen in January as our options are limited at the moment.
"Some of our loan players could go back which would give us an option to get new ones in and we have pinpointed some that we want.
"The owners are aware of what we need to do and I think we need to do our utmost to bring four or five players in when the window opens."