|
Ward was beaten only once in the third minute by a Tommy Mooney shot, but Forest claimed a draw with an equaliser from Stern John.
Blues, who were lacking the services of influential central defender Darren Purse, took the lead when Mooney slotted home a left-footed shot after Darren Ward had pushed out a right-wing shot from Geoff Horsfield.
Forest initially struggled to adapt to the difficult conditions but then settled down and began to pose problems for Bluess makeshift defence.
Blues survived a scare in the 17th minute when Jim Brennan caught new boy Jeff Kenna on the wrong foot and put over a low cross which John side-footed narrowly wide.
The ever-dangerous John continued to trouble Blues defence and in the 25th minute he grabbed an equaliser after winning a corner on the left.
He then got on the end of Nicky Summerbee's inswinging corner to head home un-marked from just inside the six-yard box.
Blues took some time to recover from the setback but just before the break went back onto the attack when Marcelo, Mooney, and Steve Vickers all wasted reasonable goal opportunities.
But it was Ward who took the honours with brilliant saves to deny Mooney, Michael Johnson and on-loan Kenna the chance to snatch the points.