Forest fell to a 5-0 defeat to Rennes in their latest pre-season run-out on Wednesday evening.
Goals either side of half-time, with two coming from the penalty spot, saw the Ligue 1 side earn victory at St. George’s Park.
Chances were few and far between in the opening stages, with Chris Wood acrobatically firing wide from Ola Aina’s cross, before Benjamin Bourigeaud saw a deflected effort tipped onto the crossbar by Ethan Horvath.
Forest’s best chance of the encounter came midway through the first half, as a dangerous Morgan Gibbs-White corner found its way to Chris Wood whose header rattled the crossbar from a yard.
On 33 minutes though, Rennes were awarded a penalty. Desire Doué checked inside and broke into the area before sandwiching his way between Serge Aurier and Cheikhou Kouyaté before going to ground and winning a spot-kick.
From the resulting penalty, Bourigeaud stepped up and fired beyond Horvath for 1-0.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, Rennes were awarded a second penalty. Hwang Ui-jo’s back pass to Joe Worrall was intercepted by Baptiste Santamaria, who went to ground and won his side another spot-kick, which Bourigeaud converted for 2-0.
HALF-TIME: Rennes 2-0 Forest
Aurier made way for Neco Williams at the break, with the wing-back crossing in for Ui-jo whose effort at the near post was tipped behind at close-range.
But minutes later, Rennes added a third. A quick break saw Santamaria drill in a low cross for Matthis Abline who swept in from close-range for 3-0.
Five minutes later, Rennes scored a fourth goal. From a free-kick 25 yards from goal, Lovro Majer found the top corner with his left foot for 4-0.
Forest looked to work their way back into the counter, freshening things up with six changes on the hour before substitute Orel Mangala saw a low deflected effort narrowly miss the target from the edge of the area.
But Rennes found themselves well on top in the latter stages of the contest, and added a fifth two minutes before the final whistle as Amine Gouiri fired in at the far post from a corner.
Another youngster in Esapa Osong, who joined fellow academy player Josh Powell in making the squad, came on to gain first-team experience in the closing stages, as Forest were defeated in Staffordshire.
FULL-TIME: Rennes 5-0 Forest