When former Nottingham Forest defender Danny Collins headed Rotherham in front after 13 minutes, after a summer of frustration at the City Ground backed up by two early defeats, things looked bleak for Dougie Freedman.
But the manager will have been delighted with the way his side came back, Matt Mills changing the complexion of the game with an equaliser in first-half stoppage time.
Michail Antonio added more to his transfer deadline value with the winner on 61 minutes to delight the majority of the 19,885 crowd.
The prospects for the season ahead remain unclear, with Antonio and Henri Lansbury still coveted by a number of clubs, but games like this one are crucial for Forest to take three points from and they duly did so on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to his club's official website, Rotherham manager Steve Evans said: "It's disappointing to lose when you put so much into an afternoon.
"Last week we were really down but if we play like we have today most weeks we’ll win a lot of points in the Championship for sure."