Much has been made of Anderson’s move to the City Ground from the Magpies in 2024, which was essentially a £35million transfer to satisfy his boyhood club’s PSR demands.

But the England midfielder showed there was no room for sentiment as his 88th-minute goal won his side a point that moves them to the brink of survival.

Anderson cancelled out Harvey Barnes’ opener to increase Forest’s gap to the bottom three to seven points, with West Ham and Tottenham yet to play this weekend.

It was also a perfect response to Thursday night’s Europa League heartbreak, where they were hammered 4-0 by Aston Villa in the semi-final second leg, as their unbeaten run in the Premier League extended to eight matches.

This was another disappointing afternoon for Newcastle as their season continues to end with a whimper and their hopes of snatching European qualification were damaged.

Forest had a quick turnaround from that harrowing night at Villa Park and despite having Morgan Gibbs-White, Murillo and Ibrahim Sangare in the treatment room, they equipped themselves well.

Neither side had much of a creative spark, but the hosts threatened the most, carving out the best chances in the first half.

Dilane Bakwa was at the heart of it as he terrorised the Newcastle defence down the left.

First, his jinking run into the area saw a shot blocked before he skinned Dan Burn and got to the byline, but his cross was too fierce for Taiwo Awoniyi to convert from close range.

Then, a dangerous ball in saw Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope go walkabout and the ball fell for Jair Cunha, who looked primed to score into an empty net, until Pope made up for his error by blocking the shot.

Bakwa had been key, but his error almost saw Forest concede on the stroke of half-time as he was robbed in possession. Nick Woltemade played in Will Osula, whose low shot was blocked by Matz Sels.

Forest were presented with a brilliant chance to open the scoring just before the hour as Sven Botman fluffed his defensive lines.

That allowed Awoniyi a presentable sight at goal, but he could not connect cleanly and his shot was saved by the legs of Pope.

Newcastle began to show their teeth and Bruno Guimaraes had a quickfire double chance to open the scoring.

First, he shot straight at Selz after a poor Morata clearance and then from the second wave, the Brazilian tested Selz again with a low effort that forced a stretching save.

The visitors kept knocking and Osula was denied a brilliant opener when his 20-yard free-kick crashed into the crossbar, with Guimaraes again wasteful on the follow-up.

The goal eventually came 16 minutes from time as Barnes raced onto Jacob Ramsey’s defence-splitting through ball and finished clinically.

Forest looked beaten, but Anderson came up with the goods in the 88th minute.

He surged into the area, latched on to James McAtee’s cute pass and then fired past a helpless Pope at the near post.