Once Jermaine Beckford limped off with a hamstring problem 30 minutes in, leaving David Ngog as Wanderers’ only out-and-out front man, you wondered whether they really had the firepower to win this one outright.

Creating chances has never been the problem for the Whites but taking them is another matter altogether.

And though defender Matt Mills chipped in with a fine header to cancel out Jamie Paterson’s opener just after the break, the lack of cutting edge on display from both sides was clear to see.

With Neil Danns and Mark Davies buzzing round in midfield the tempo was high throughout. Forest, eight unbeaten, were hanging on at the end and had resorted to time-wasting tactics long before Mills levelled things up 15 minutes from the end.

Had Andy Lonergan not been in splendid form, all Wanderers’ good work would have been for nothing.

The Whites keeper pulled off a handful of marvellous saves to cement his popularity on the terraces, now regularly celebrated in song to the tune of everything from KC and the Sunshine Band to Simon and Garfunkel.