Colin Calderwood was sacked by the Reds following a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Rovers on Boxing Day last year, as they battled against relegation.
But replacement Billy Davies has engineered a promotion push this time round, which Forest continued in emphatic fashion with a thumping win that extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to ten matches.
Second-half goals from Wes Morgan, Robert Earnshaw and Lewis McGugan secured the win, after a Gareth Roberts own goal had put the home side ahead.
It was the first meaningful effort of the match that lead to the opening goal, as a Radoslaw Majewski corner caused chaos in the penalty area in the 17th minute.
An initial effort from Dexter Blackstock was cleared off the line and a second from Earnshaw cleared to the far post where Paul Anderson cut the ball back into the middle and defender Roberts bundled the ball into his own net.
Doncaster felt the ball had gone out of play before Anderson slotted it across and assistant manager Richard O'Kelly was sent to the stands for protesting too much.
The visitors were struggling to muster much threat on the Forest goal but, in the 35th minute, it did require an outstanding, brave sliding block from Morgan to charge down a James Coppinger shot.
Forest still looked the more likely to score, with veteran keeper Neil Sullivan making a smart reaction save to thwart Earnshaw, after a twisting, penetrating run from Garath McCleary had set up a shooting chance on the edge of the six-yard box.
Doncaster should have levelled, with the normally predatory Sharp sidefooting wide from a fantastic position following good work from Coppinger.
But Forest had chances of their own to extend their lead, with Dexter Blackstock heading narrowly wide from a corner and midfielder Majewski wasting a fine opportunity in first-half injury time, as he fired badly wide after a good move had carved open Doncaster on the counter-attack.
A flying Gunter run almost forced Doncaster into a second own goal as the full-back flashed the ball across the face of goal from the right, with Sam Hird miss hitting his attempted clearance, which curled just the wrong side of the post.
But, in the 58th minute, Forest did net their second, as Majewski won a corner with a driven shot that was deflected wide and then delivered a perfect, bending ball to the far post for Morgan to head powerfully downwards and into the back of the net.
Doncaster twice came close to scoring, firstly as Dean Shiels produced a clever turn and shot that bounced narrowly wide and then as Sharp missed another golden opportunity, heading wide after being left unmarked just a few yards from goal.
But it was Forest who were to strike for a third time, this time as Majewski's clever left-foot pass broke the offside trap and allowed Earnshaw the time to drive a low shot accurately into the bottom corner.
McGugan then scored a spectacular fourth for Forest, just seconds after coming on, beating two players before rifling an unstoppable shot across the face of goal and inside the far post.
Doncaster pulled one back through Sharp as he connected with crisp header from a corner, but it was far too late for them to engineer a comeback.