The Forest boss knows that he needed a huge slice of luck to dash the hopes of the Somerset side.
Yeovil missed clear chances and had their man of the match, Arron Davies, taken a clear seventh minute opportunity, the outcome could have been different. He was put clean through by Lee Morris, but goalkeeper Paul Smith stuck out his right foot to deflect the ball for a corner.
Forest got the breakthrough in the 23rd minute when Yeovil skipper Nathan Jones was adjudged to have fouled James Perch.
It was a marginal decision with replays showing Jones possibly got a touch on the ball first, but Kris Commons sent goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall the wrong way to register his 13th goal of the season.
Yeovil came out with all guns blazing in the second half but it was one of those nights when nothing went right for them.
Morris crossed for Davies, whose effort was palmed away by Smith and within 60 seconds the keeper's feet again came to the rescue when Wayne Gray threatened to equalise.
When Smith was finally beaten on 72 minutes by a Marcus Stewart header, the post came to his rescue.
In the final minute of normal time Yeovil conceded a second penalty, Terrell Forbes mistiming his tackle on Jack Lester.
There was no doubt about the validity of this decision and, with Commons having been substituted, it was left to Perch to knock what could be the final nail into Yeovil's promotion coffin.