Darius Henderson was handed his first start for the Reds as boss Alex McLeish looked to endear himself to supporters of his new team on a day when he went up against the club he left in acrimonius circumstances to join local rivals Aston Villa.
It was a man the Forest manager couldn't sign this week, however, who did the damage on the stroke of half-time as Chris Burke opened the scoring to confirm his boss Lee Clark's belief that the winger was in top form.
And Burke showed why the Reds wanted him by adding a second to seal the game with ten minutes left, Billy Sharp's injury-time penalty just a consolation as Forest's post-Christmas slump down the table continues after a week that everyone connected with the club will want to forget.
Speaking afterwards, McLeish refused to talk about anything other than the game and felt that 'silly goals' cost his side.
"It was pretty unprofessional to concede a goal with only 45 seconds to go in the first half."