Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka is taking very little from the Lilywhites' last performance as he prepares to face Preston North End at the City Ground on Saturday.
The Reds boss says that the injuries faced by his weekend opponents meant that the result at Birmingham was not a good 'sample' of Alex Neil's sides qualities.
"They are a really good team," Karanka told his pre-match press conference ahead of the match up. "Alex is doing a really good job.
"They didn't start well this season when they had injuries, but now they are recovered, they have got their confidence back.
"The last game against Birmingham I don't think is a good sample, because they missed a lot of players and I am expecting a really, really tough game."
Last season's clash between the two sides was a watershed moment for the City Ground outfit, who then brought in a number of new players less than 24 hours later on deadline day and whilst the Forest boss doesn't believe that game in particular was what made a difference, he acknowledges it contributed to their move forward.
"It will be really tough as we sampled last season against them," he continued.
"It was an important point in last season. It was a tough game, one in the process to switch the players who arrived in January.
"The following game we went to Bolton and then we made another step. Our priority now is Preston this weekend."