A battling Nottingham Forest side were denied a win after taking the lead late in the game, when Bristol City equalized in the 89^th minute.

Bristol City looked solid in defence and a composed performance in the first half frustrated Forest in their attempts to get forward. But Forest also defended well and in the end the two sides cancelled each other out and the half finished goalless.

It was a much more open second half and Forest increased their tempo as they upped the pressure on City. It finally paid off when Wes Morgan turned striker to put Forest in the lead in the 86^th minute.

But Forest had victory snatched away from them less than four minutes later to take a share of the points.

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A late challenge by Nicky Maynard brought Chris Gunter down in the opening seconds of the game, for which the Bristol City player picked up a yellow card and Gunter was fortunately able to continue.

Forest's first break came in the 6^th minute when Radoslaw Majewski picked out Paul Anderson as he made a good run forward to beat his man and Dean Kerken had to be quick off his line to clear the danger.

And Gunter's cross to Anderson in the six-yard box looked promising, but Cole Skuse made the interception to put the ball out for a corner.

But City were well organized at the back and were effective in snuffing out Forest's numerous attempts to push forward.

Paul McKenna was the second Forest player to be brought down, under the studs of an apologetic Evander Sno who picked up City's second yellow card of the afternoon.

When Forest upped their pace they looked more threatening and came closer to breaking down the City defence and Joe Garner was not far wide with a long-range effort from 25 yards.

A quick break by Danny Haynes was brilliantly stopped by a well-timed sliding tackle from Kelvin Wilson.

Forest had their best chance of the half when McGoldrick chested the ball to Majewski who shot powerfully from just outside the penalty area, but straight at Gerken.

And a good ball in from McGoldrick in stoppage time found Garner who headed down straight into the arms of the City keeper.

Bristol City threatened in the opening stages of the second hanf and Maynard was prevented from getting a shot on goal by a lunging block from Wes Morgan.

Sno was lucky to escape a second yellow card, getting away with a talking to from the referee after a raised elbow against McKenna.

There were cries for a penalty area when Morgan went down as he tried to get the ball between two defenders but the Forest player was rather harshly booked for diving.

Just 2 minutes into the half Dele Adebola came on to take the place of Majewski and Sno was also wisely substituted.

City were throwing players forward in numbers and put the Forest goal under pressure until the ball finally fell into the hands of Lee Camp.

And an inswinging free kick for the away side looked dangerous as the ball missed everybody, but the Forest keeper was again in place to make the save.

A good ball through from Chris Cohen gave substitute Garath McCleary the chance of a shot from the edge of the D, but the ball went just wide of the post.

McGoldrick was not quite able to get on the end of a beautiful cross in by Guy Moussi and the ball went out of play.

And Forest's final substitution saw the welcome return of Robert Earnshaw, who replaced McGoldrick.

Forest came close to taking the lead when the ball was squared back by McCleary for Anderson who went sliding into the six-yard box with Skuse. But the City player just managed to get his foot to the ball first to clear it off the line.

Forest looked much more threatening as the half went on and the home crowd started to get behind their team.

And they finally got their breakthrough four minutes from time when the ball came in initially from a free kick by Cohen. Adebola's effort came off the post and the ball bounced up nicely six yards out for Morgan to put the ball away.

And they looked hungry for another when Adebola made a run into the box from the right and spotted Earnshaw as he ran in, but his effort went over the bar.

But City equalized in the 89^th minute when Hartley was given too much time to cross into the penalty area to Haynes who crashed the ball home.

Nottingham Forest: Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Wes Morgan, Kelvin Wilson, Chris Cohen, Paul Anderson, Paul McKenna(C), Guy Moussi, Radoslaw Majewski(Dele Adebola, 57min), Joe Garner(Garath McCleary, 66min), David McGoldrick(Robert Earnshaw, 73min)
Subs not used: Paul Smith, Luke Chambers, Lewis McGugan, Joel Lynch,
Bookings: Morgan 57min, Cohen 60min, Gunter 78min, Moussi 82min
Scorer: Morgan 86min

Bristol City: Dean Gerken, Jamie McAllister(David Clarkson 75min), Louis Carey(C), Marvin Elliott, Nicky Maynard, Paul Hartley, Cole Skuse, Evander Sno(Gavin Williams 59min), Danny Haynes, Lewin Nyatanga, Alvaro Sabroio(Jamie McCombe 70min)
Subs not used: Liam Fortaine, Lee Johnson, John Akinde, Adriano Basso
Bookings: Maynard 30sec, Sno 24min, Elliott 40min
Scorer: Haynes 90min

Referee: A Taylor
Attendance:21,467 Away attn: 1,218