New signing Frederic Piquionne was the star man at the City Ground as the on-loan West Ham United man opened the scoring in a crucial relegation battle.
"We knew he had got that in his locker," said Saunders.
"I looked the other way for a split second, looked back and the ball was in the net."
Rovers not only kept alive their own hopes of survival in the Championship but also dragged their hosts back into the mix.
"It's a massive result," said Saunders.
"I would have been happy if we had played terrible and won but the fact is that we did very well. We had to make sure that Forest didn't go nine points clear of us but that brings it back to three and we have a game in hand."