Simon Grayson believed North End were denied at least a share of the spoils because of the heroics from the opposition goalkeeper.
The Lilywhites would have felt hard done by going in at the break a goal down after arguably being the better team in the first-half.
It took a Forest counter attack to separate the sides, a quick fire break from a North End attack led to Nelson Oliveira tapping home from close range.
The restart saw Bailey Wright and Joe Garner make way for Callum Robinson and Jordan Hugill as Grayson looked to break down a stubborn defence - but the Forest back line stood firm thanks largely to a man of the match performance from Dorus De Vries, and the fact that the number one was picked as the best player on show tonight was telling for the PNE manager.
"When you look back on the game, it's always interesting to see who got their man of the match, and the fact that it was their goalkeeper then it speaks volumes of what's happened tonight.
"We were very comfortable first-half - they never really threatened us and we kept the crowd quiet, we had some half chances but we were undone by an unfortunate bit of play - we had a shot that deflected, and suddenly before you know it they're counter attacking against us like that they can do with the pace they have in their team and we've conceded.
"It was a disappointing from our point of view to concede such an unfortunate goal from our perspective but we had a go second half and their goalkeeper made two top saves, if it hadn't been for that we could have got something out of the game.
"We knew that we'd give them a game and they know they've been in a game tonight, and when you look at the back end of the game, it only looked like there was one team going to win it and that was us, but unfortunately for us their goalkeeper has made some good saves."
For more reaction from the manager, and Ben Pearson after he made a lasting impression following his return to the side, head to PNE Player HD here.