Nottingham Forest boss Billy Davies was delighted that after three weeks of inaction his side shook off the cobwebs to beat Crystal Palace 3-0. Davies said: "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.

"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 very good goals and the only pity was that we were not even more clinical."

Forest may have stretched their unbeaten run at home to 29 matches but Davies still wants to add reinforcements when the transfer window opens in a fortnight.

"It was a very important three points for us," Davies said.

"We've kept our long unbeaten home 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."

Davies was able to give loanee Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey a late run-out as he continues to build up his fitness following last season's horrific broken leg.

"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."

Palace remain in the bottom three after a fifth straight defeat on the road and boss George Burley felt they shot themselves in the foot.

Burley 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.

"Julian Speroni has made some saves but some of our defending was very poor.

"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."