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Graham Alexander's treatment started before this one of course - his switch from defence to midfield a couple of games ago having seen criticism turn to praise. But he consolidated that in a big way at Forest - showing that he can do it as part of a four-man midfield, prompting attacks as well as protecting the defence and scoring two cracking goals to boot.
Okay, the winner was a penalty, but one completely unaffected by the way he'd been kept hanging around for it like a householder awaiting the arrival of an ever-absent builder. He smashed it down the middle with a gleeful conviction. And the 20-yarder which bypassed the defensive wall to put us ahead on 25 minutes gave the lie to my expressed regret at our benchful of free kick specialists.
And more importantly perhaps, was the medicine for our manager, who got just about everything right. Admittedly he didn't need to be a brain surgeon to see from the ineptitude on display in the last 2 games that the system needed changing: but he had the courage to do it, and in Steven Thompson has brought in a striker who's strong, holds the ball up well and looks to have the ability on the ground and in the air to make it work.
A pity Paterson, ever-eager but seemingly disorientated by the sudden arrival of support, had his worst game for us. But Coyle acted on this too, and at a point when we were on the rack, replaced him with Blake who did what he'd failed to do against Plymouth by totally transforming the game. Coyle also brought his other subs (Ade and Gudjonsson) on pretty early, not because Thompson and McDonald were doing anything wrong but presumably to get some fresh legs on: the blazing sun was as rare as a decent Clarets performance and we'd not had the practice at running around in it.
And he kept us going for it pretty well to the end. Funnily enough, the 4-4-2 which had brought a massive improvement all round, getting so much more from the likes of Elliott than we've seen lately, really came into its own when spearheaded by the Ade-Blake old guard. They combined more than once to create good openings, not least the one that prompted a confused Forest defender to somehow fall on the ball cutting out a low cross with his hand for the penalty. It really was the Robbie Blake show for the 33 minutes he was on the pitch - typified by one cameo in which he turned defence to attack, receiving a throw-in down the line deep in our half, spinning to run through a gap that didn't seem to be there between his marker and the touchline, and quickly knocking the ball into the middle to be spread out wide for Elliott, to get in a decent cross.
Once we were in front a second time we looked pretty solid, all the defence, ably protected by the midfield holding up well: I lost count of the number of times Caldwell - also showing some signs of a cure - got his head on the ball to clear the lines.
Yet it hadn't looked that way earlier in the second half. Forest have a pacey forward line which they'd not used too effectively in the first period. On emerging from the re-start, they ran us ragged for 15 minutes or so. The ponderousness of our defence was exposed, with illegal means often proving the only way to block Forest runs on goal. It was from a free-kick near the corner, after McDonald had charged down Earnshaw that they equalised - Earnshaw himself following in after the ball came back off the bar.
For a time we remained on the rack. Further goals looked inevitable and it would have been no surprise if they'd been helped along by further bookings and even sendings-off as the likes of Caldwell and Anderson struggled to keep up. The closest Forest came was a deflected shot at the foot of the Beast's left-hand post to which he did well to get down.
But then Coyle decided to change the game - not by shoring up the defence, but bringing on Robbie. Suddenly we were taking the game to them and carving out some decent chances. The goal when it came sapped Forest's confidence. Instead of running at us, they adopted a more direct approach, far easier for Caldwell and Carlisle to cope with, and we looked the more likely to score. There was a good moment from a bouncing Jensen clearance which Ade turned like a whirling spinning top to get his head on, but saw Smith save at the top corner.
By the end, a mass of Forest fans were taking the walk, no equaliser looking likely even after Andy Cole's late appearance as a substitute. Though there was time for the Beast to put their striker Tyson out for the count with a punched clearance that would have floored his heavyweight namesake.
For the first time this season - in the league, at least - we'd looked like we knew what we were doing to see off an enterprising Forest side. But it's too early to say we're out of the woods yet.
If Tyson hadn't blazed over when through on goal after 16 minutes it could have been a different story; If they'd played to their strengths and run at us for more than that 15 minute second half burst we could have been in deep trouble; I'm not sure why Duff (our best defender in my book) isn't getting a game; and we've still only scored one league goal from open play.
But at least we've been reminded that we have players who can entertain us and tear into an opposition; and a manager who's willing to look at what's going wrong, make positive changes, use his subs shrewdly and not just sit back on a lead.
Keep on with the cure Owen - just say yes.
