Striker Lewis Grabban admits a lack of confidence is a factor behind Nottingham Forest’s goalscoring woes.
The Reds have struggled to find the back of the net this season, scoring just 30 times in their 38 Championship games so far.
Among their forward players, Lyle Taylor is top scorer with four league strikes, Glenn Murray has two and Grabban has three.
All have been culpable of missing some big chances in games, along with their teammates, as Chris Hughton’s side have been battling at the bottom end of the table.
“Confidence can play a part; also, you may have a bit of doubt in your mind,” Grabban told NottinghamshireLive.
“When you’re riding high, instinct kicks in - especially for goalscorers, you do things quite naturally.
“Sometimes when you haven’t scored for a while or the team’s not creating a lot, you want to be perfect when you get that chance, you want to get it right.
“Generally speaking, it doesn’t work like that. You need to just go for it and make that decision quickly. We’re not there at the moment.
“Whether in or out of the team, injured or fit, it’s been frustrating as a team.
“When you’re watching from the stands, you want the team to do well and the club to do well and get results.”
Given Championship safety is not yet fully secured, Grabban feels keeping tight at the other end of the pitch has taken on added importance.
Forest are in 17th spot, seven points above the relegation zone, with eight games to go.
“We’ve got players who can score goals and players who can create,” said the 33-year-old, who found the net 20 times last term.
“I just feel that, the situation we’re in currently, we need to be solid, especially when playing against the higher ranking teams in the league.
“Generally, when we’ve played teams around us we’ve done better and been a bit more open and expansive.
“That’s the situation we’re in at the moment.
“Obviously everyone wants to score goals. Everyone wants to be playing fluid football. But not everyone in the league can do that currently.
“Unfortunately for us, off the back of last season, it is difficult.
“We understand everyone is frustrated with us not getting as many goals as we did, or can do.
“We will try to rectify that as soon as possible, but the main thing is to stay in the division.”
To that end, Grabban says there is only healthy competition between the three front men as they battle for a starting spot.
“I’m used to having that competition,” he said. “To be honest, this is probably the only club where there hasn’t been that dynamic of having four strikers.
“All my previous clubs have been a bit more in-depth in that department.
“We haven’t so much, but it’s good to have three senior strikers in the building. I find it’s better for the team.
“I was with Glenn at Bournemouth, so we get on well with each other.
“Being senior pros, we know that if one of us does well, it’s good for the team. We all understand that.
“There’s competition; everyone wants to play, but at the same time everyone wants the person who is getting selected to do well, because that benefits everyone.
“When you’re a bit younger and a bit more immature, it’s maybe different.
“Obviously you want to play and you want to do well, you want to score as many goals as you can. No matter how old you are, you want to be the one that’s scoring.
“But as you get older, you realise the dynamic isn’t like that - sometimes someone else is playing ahead of you or the manager is switching it because no-one is scoring goals. No-one’s done phenomenal this season, not one player, so the team is going to change.
“You just hope that the person who is in there picks up some form and does well for the team.”
