Pearce believes he will be given time

Manager Stuart Pearce admits Nottingham Forest’s confidence has been shaken, but insists he does not fear for his job.

Brentford overtook the Reds in the Championship table and moved to ninth with a resounding 3-1 at the City Ground.

First-half goals from Jon Toral and Andre Gray, and Alex Pritchard’s penalty after the break put the result beyond doubt, with Michael Antonio’s thunderous response from distance coming too late to help Pearce’s side, who have now gone 10 games without a win.

The Hammersmith-born Pearce pinpointed the early second-half penalty and the weak backpass from substitute Eric Lichaj which led to Gray’s goal as symptoms of their poor run of form.

“It erodes the confidence and with that decent players become nervous players who want to shift the ball from back to front too readily,” said Pearce.

“I think a victory solves that but it seems very elusive at the moment when we keep making those errors.”

Pearce, a legend as a Forest player, says he is taking their recent slump personally.

“I care about this football club more than just a job as a manager,” he said.

“I feel part of the terrace culture if you like. This club means a lot to me so defeat hurts.

“I never fear losing my job or failure. I never have done in my life.

“I have a chairman who has been fantastically supportive of me. I believe am in the infancy of a job here.

“We have won more games than we have lost but we are on a bad run and we need a victory as soon as we can.”

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