IT WAS a season when Forest would finish in the play-offs but their campaign suffered an early blow at the hands of Cardiff.

And it was Robert Earnshaw who was to break the Reds' hearts in blistering fashion at the City Ground.

Paul Hart's side were two goals down in the opening seven minutes to the Division One new boys.

It was Cardiff's first visit to the City Ground since 1977, the year Forest got promoted and then they went on to win the old First Division the following year.

But any ideas that Forest would be in for an easy ride against a team who won promotion the previous season were quickly dispelled.

The game was 75 seconds old when the visitors took the lead.

A long ball dropped over Michael Dawson and Earnshaw latched on to it.

It went from bad to worse in the seventh minute when Dawson fouled Kavanagh just outside the box, gifting Cardiff a goal.

Soon afterwards Forest were unfortunate not to pull a goal back when David Johnson went close.

Earnshaw was continuing to cause problems for the Forest defence and only some smart work from John Thompson stopped him getting a shot on goal after he was released by Kavanagh.

The striker had another opportunity in the 26th minute but shot wide.

In the second half, Forest faced a mountain to maintain their unbeaten record for 2003 at the City Ground.

They started with purpose and carved out a couple of opportunities.

The first was mainly the result of Johnson's tenacity as he chased a lost cause close to the Cardiff goal, wiggling his way through to get a shot in which Alexander managed to save.

Two minutes later he tried his luck again, this time from distance and Alexander needed two attempts to grab the ball.

Marlon Harewood reacted quickly and with his back to goal swivelled and volleyed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from 12 yards to pull a goal back for Forest with 20 minutes remaining. They could not, however, find the equaliser.

The unbeaten City Ground run for 2003 had gone.

Forest: Ward, Louis-Jean, Dawson, Thompson, Oyen, Williams, Stewart, Reid (Bopp,76), Jess (Morgan, 87), Johnson (Westcarr, 82), Harewood. Subs not used: Roche, Sonner.

Cardiff: Alexander, Weston, Vidmar, Gabbidon, Barker, Langley, Kavanagh, Robinson (Bonner, 69), Boland, Lee, Earnshaw (Thorne, 89). Subs not used Collins, Whalley, Margetson.