Nottingham Forest may have last laugh after Derby County homecoming | OneFootball

The 30-year-old has not had the strongest of years with his boyhood club after joining in the summer.

Derby County are in desperate need of improvement on the pitch, and John Eustace has just 12 games left to keep his new side in the Championship.

The Rams currently find themselves 23rd in the league table, four points off safety, following a 1-0 defeat in the 95th minute to Millwall on Saturday afternoon.

Without a goal at home in six games, a club record, the East Midlands outfit need their senior players to take responsibility sooner rather than later and step-up to the plate to help guide the team back out of the bottom three, with confidence extremely low throughout the entirety of Pride Park.

Derby had started the season positively and last summer was a good one as they geared up for the challenge of the Championship following promotion from League One, with a boyhood supporter finally re-joining the club that he had left at the age of eight.

However, it is not the right side of the A52 that looks to be having the last laugh following Ben Osborn's first eight months in black-and-white.

Nottingham Forest supporters may be feeling gleeful about Osborn's start at Derby

After leaving the Rams as a youngster, the now 30-year-old made his way to Nottingham Forest, where he went through the ranks to become a consistent member of the starting XI between 2014 and 2019.

He announced himself properly to the Reds fanbase with a last-minute winner against Derby at Pride Park in January 2015, firing into the bottom corner past Lee Grant to hand his former side one of their greatest days in DE24.

Osborn made 230 appearances for Forest before joining Sheffield United as they got set for their return to the Premier League, and he became a fan favourite at Bramall Lane - as he had done at the City Ground.

His tenacity and effort made him a standout in the Blades side, even if he was not one of the best players technically, yet he has not been able to recreate this at Derby so far.

Fitness has been a huge issue for the versatile midfielder, and he has come in and out of the squad on a number of occasions this season. Locking down a regular place in the starting XI has been near impossible and supporters will have expected more.

For Forest fans, however, they may be looking on with a slight grin on their face with their rivals threatened by relegation and they may have the last laugh if Derby do return to the third tier and Osborn leaves.

There is still time for Osborn to recover his form and prove to Derby supporters he is still of use

While it has not been the start that the 30-year-old would have wanted, there is still more than enough time to turn this season around. But that first win since Boxing Day has to come soon and both himself and the rest of the team need to show more belief.

Osborn will be more than capable in League One, but he will not want to bear any responsibility for relegation and it is imperative that he finds form now.

Eustace has started him in both of his games in charge of Derby so far, and he will be hoping that his number eight can replicate the moment that he had in front of the South Stand 10 years ago, but in the right shirt this time.

There was a lot of excitement when Osborn was signed in June, and he must repay the faith that supporters held in him quickly.