Nottingham Forest ended a five-game losing run in the Premier League on Monday evening, with Steve Cooper's side playing out a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at the City Ground.
Emmanuel Dennis sent Forest ahead, but Villa levelled through Ashley Young, with the points ultimately being shared after a cagey second period produced few clear openings.
The result has moved the home team off the bottom of the table and into 19th, with Leicester City dropping to 20th, while Villa remain 16th, now boasting nine points from their first nine games of the season.
Cooper's position as head coach of Forest was called into question following the team's 4-0 loss at Leicester on October 3, but the 42-year-old was instead rewarded with a new contract at the end of last week, and his team put in a much-improved performance on Monday night.
Forest made the breakthrough in the 15th minute of the contest when Morgan Gibbs-White's brilliant delivery from a set piece found the head of Dennis, who managed to evade Tyrone Mings inside the box.
However, seven minutes later, the scores were level, with Young's strike from the edge of the box finding a route past Dean Henderson between the home side's sticks.
Forest wanted a foul on Ryan Yates, but the goal was allowed to stand, and Villa again had the ball in the back of the net in the 22nd minute through Ollie Watkins.
The offside flag cut short the celebrations, though, with Watkins in an offside position when the pass from Jacob Ramsey was delivered.
John McGinn had a chance to send Steven Gerrard's side ahead 20 minutes from time when he met a cross from Watkins, but the Scotland international's effort was always moving wide the post.
Villa were the team pushing for the winner in the final exchanges, but the visitors struggled to carve out any clear openings, and the points were ultimately shared at the City Ground.
Next up for Forest is a trip to fellow strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, while Villa will be bidding to return to winning ways when they host Chelsea on Sunday. body check tags ::
