Nottingham Forest's rollercoaster of a season took a turn for the better on Saturday as they retained their Championship status for another year by picking up a point in their clash with Stoke City.

After experiencing a woeful start to the current campaign which culminated in Sabri Lamouchi's departure last October, the Reds' progress under the guidance of manager Chris Hughton has been relatively slow.

Whilst the 62-year-old has managed to improve Forest in a defensive sense, their major issue in recent months has been scoring goals as they have only managed to find the back of the net on 36 occasions in 44 games.

However, with Lewis Grabban finally starting to illustrate some signs of promise by netting in the club's clashes with Birmingham City and Stoke, the Reds may be able to end the season on a positive note by defeating Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End next month if he continues to deliver in-front of goal.

Despite the fact that his side are safe, Hughton has admitted that Forest will be doing everything they can to beat the Owls despite the fact that they will be helping arch-rivals Derby County in their quest to stay in the Championship by securing all three points in this fixture.

Wednesday will be relegated if they suffer defeat in this fixture whilst fellow strugglers Rotherham United could potentially join them in League One if they fail to close the gap between them and Derby in the coming weeks.

Speaking to the Nottingham Post ahead of his side's showdown with Wednesday next weekend, the Reds boss said: "There is meaning going into the next game, because Sheffield Wednesday need to get a result - that means we have a big responsibility to the league and I wouldn't want it any different.

"I would hate it if, because we are safe, we've got a team that don't perform next week or don't turn up.

"For me, that would be unacceptable."

GIVEMESPORT's Joshua Cole says...

Hughton's statement will surely be music to the ears of Derby supporters as if Forest do perform at their very best against Wednesday, they could prove to be too strong for Darren Moore's side and thus consign them to relegation.

Whilst Rams manager Wayne Rooney will be determined to guide the Rams to a much-needed victory over Swansea City next weekend in order to potentially extend the gap between them and fellow strugglers Rotherham, he will have one less thing to worry about if the Owls are ruled out of contention next weekend.

For Forest's sake, a positive end to the season could allow them to carry some much-needed momentum heading into the 2021/22 campaign.

Providing that Hughton is able to get his recruitment spot on during the upcoming transfer window, there is no reason why he cannot guide the Reds to a potential push for a top-six finish having previously secured promotion from this division during his spells at Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion.