NOTTINGHAM Forest got lucky for the first time this season at Leicester, admitted manager Sean O'Driscoll.
The Reds boss conceded that his side had benefitted from a dubious penalty as they secured a 2-2 draw at Leicester City on an afternoon when they failed to produce their best.
Simon Cox converted from the spot following what looked to be a fair challenge from Zak Whitbread on Billy Sharp, to help Forest level for a second time after Adlene Guedioura had earlier made it 1-1.
"We were definitely fortunate. You try to be honest with your opinions, whether you win, lose or draw – and we got out of jail, we were lucky," said O'Driscoll.
"It is just my opinion. If it was given against my team I would tell you the same thing – I did not think it was a penalty.
"I can see why the referee gave it. And in the last live TV game we had, we had Dexter sent off and I did not think that was a sending off, but I could see why the referee gave it. This was exactly the same.
"I am not going to run on the pitch and tell Simon to blast the ball over the bar, because we all live by the same rules. Everyone in this division will moan about decisions not going their way.
"Most people keep quiet when they do go in their favour. In the context of the game, it was fortunate for us.
"We gave the ball away so many times. You can talk about tactics, structure, organisation and anything else – but if you give the ball away as frequently as we did, then that all goes out the window. We will blame the early start!"
O'Driscoll was encouraged by his players' attitude, if nothing else.
"On a positive side, we gave ourselves a chance because we defended, we never gave anything up. We had players who followed up on balls they had no right to get," he said.
"We got a fortunate penalty at the other end, however. That is the first time we have come off the pitch this season where I have felt that we did not deserve anything. But we have got a point.
"We will try to react with a better performance. We want to play as well as we did against Middlesbrough when we play Sheffield Wednesday next weekend.
"Before the game, if you had offered me the point, I would have taken it. But, if you had told me we would play like this, I would say 'no, no, no, no'. The performance was not up to scratch. There were fewer positives to come out of this game than there were the three defeats we have had.
"We will look at this game in the same way as always, we will ask why we made poor decisions. We have to look at this and say to ourselves that we do not want too many performances like this."