Oliver Burke scored (pictured) his first senior goal as Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten run in the Sky Bet Championship to seven games with a 1-1 draw at Cardiff.
The 18-year-old finished superbly to put the visitors ahead in just the ninth minute but a deflected Aron Gunnarsson strike soon after proved enough to earn the Bluebirds a share of the spoils. Cardiff had been looking to avoid suffering three straight league defeats for the first time in almost a year, and they came out of the blocks smartly.
Craig Noone cut inside Michael Mancienne to pick out Anthony Pilkington, but the winger guided his header back across goal and beyond the far post. Forest punished the miss by scoring the opener from their first meaningful attack
Dexter Blackstock found Burke in space on the right-hand side and he burst past Matthew Connolly to send a lovely outside of the foot shot beyond David Marshall and into the far corner. However, the lead only last four minutes
Noone was involved again for Cardiff, stretching the defence to tee-up Gunnarsson
The Iceland international's 25-yard drive took a touch off birthday boy Tony Watt to deceive Dorus de Vries and bring the hosts level. The equaliser kick-started a sustained period of Cardiff pressure which the Bluebirds should really have made more of. Noone teased and tormented Mancienne once again, with Pilkington this time heading straight at De Vries. The best chance of the lot fell to Watt
The Scot, celebrating his 22nd birthday, found himself one-on-one with the Forest goalkeeper after strike partner Kenwyne Jones had let a Joe Ralls pass run on. But the former Celtic man opted to try and beat De Vries at the near post, with the Dutchman making a sharp save.
Jones then had a header blocked on the line by Matt Mills from the resulting corner as Forest just about held out. Cardiff nearly paid for their profligacy seven minutes before the break when Jamie Ward's deep cross was set to pick out Blackstock, only for Marshall to just tip the ball away from the striker at the far post.
Chances kept coming for the hosts in the second half, but the tempo in their play fell away and for large parts the visitors were able to keep them at bay with relative ease. Jones headed a Pilkington cross over while at full stretch, while Gunnarsson could not direct an excellent Noone cross at goal from the edge of the six-yard box.
Forest defender Jack Hobbs survived a scare just past the hour as his defensive header flew narrowly wide of his own goal with De Vries scrambling. The visitors were beginning to grow in confidence and they had a great chance to win it with 10 minutes remaining. A quick break freed substitute Ben Osborn, and Ward just could not make proper contact with the ball across the six-yard box before Nelson Oliveira skied a last-gasp sitter.
