FORMER Derby County man Tommy Smith returned to haunt his old rivals Nottingham Forest at the City Ground today, but despite a super double from the forward it was ultimate disappointment as the Hornets fell to a 3-2 defeat on the Trent.

Smith, who scored an equalising goal in each half of a pulsating encounter, commented on the harem-scarem nature of the tie after the game, calling it nothing short of 'bizarre'.

"It was bizarre playing in it", said the former Ram, adding: "the second half was end-to-end it felt like, for the whole half really.

"We were trying to slow it down once it went back to two-two, but it just opened up again and whoever got the third it was going to be vital and they managed to nick it and we couldn't seem to get the equaliser at the end."

Smith's quality was clear for all to see and it was testament to his prowess that he was able to find two bits of space to ghost into to score a brilliant brace.

"On a personal level I was delighted with the two goals really. It's good to get off to a good start, so that's three in three now and I'm delighted with that. I'd rather the three points though and unfortunately we didn't get it.

"Having got back in it twice we felt we had the game by the scruff of the neck both times, and both times we let in poor goals. It's hard to take.

"We are very disappointed in there [the dressing room] as we came here to win today and we felt if we put in a good performance we would do that.

"Unfortunately we let in some sloppy goals and especially the second two were poor. It was a bit of a 'worldy' the first so you have to hold your hands up there, but yes, we're disappointed."

The three goals conceded came in stark contrast to the clean sheets that had flowed in the previous three fixtures this season - so just where did they come from?

"That's the Championship to be honest, if you're not 100% on your game then you get punished. They certainly punished us today for some of the lapses in concentration that we had. All credit to them really, they did well going forward and made the most of it."