Bristol City may not appear to be the most obvious footballing role models, but then Brian Laws has never been one to confine his thinking to within the box. After Sheffield Wednesday’s latest victory in a season that has all the makings of one to savour at Hillsborough, the manager singled out the efforts of the West Country club, last season’s beaten Coca-Cola Championship play-off finalists on one of the division’s more modest budgets, as the blueprint for his ever-improving side.

“Everyone expected them to blow up last season but they didn’t,” Laws, whose team are unbeaten in the league at home for approaching seven months, said. “They kept going; hopefully we can do the same and let’s see where that takes us. We’ve got a small squad, but you never know.”

The Yorkshire club are in the hunt for a top-six finish, in stark contrast to this time 12 months ago, when they were involved in a desperate game of catch-up merely to retain their status at this level after losing their opening five fixtures.

Victory, in this instance accompanied with a generous slice of fortune, was secured courtesy of a speculative long-range effort from Etiënne Esajas, the Dutch midfield player, taking a hefty deflection off Ian Breckin, the Nottingham Forest captain, on its way into the net four minutes into the second half of a contest that sprang to life after the break. James O’Connor, the midfield player, could, and Deon Burton, the out-of-touch forward, should have added a nerve-soothing second before the death.

Forest, who have yet to gather a point on their travels this season and remain bottom of the table, deserved to break their duck after a late rally in which their winless run was stretched to seven games thanks only to the agility of Lee Grant, as the Wednesday goalkeeper produced three stunning saves to deny Nathan Tyson and Andrew Cole, the 36-year-old forward, twice.

“The frustration is growing, especially with the manner of their goal,” Colin Calderwood, the Forest manager, said. “We’re showing good character and we’ll work hard to get out of the position we find ourselves in at present, because there’s a fine line in this division and that’s something we are finding out.”

Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2): L Grant - T McMahon, T Spurr, R Wood (sub: M Beevers, 65min), P Gilbert - E Esajas, S McAllister, J O'Connor, W Small (sub: F Jeffers, 77) - M Tudgay, D Burton. Substitutes not used: R O'Donnell, J Smith, L Clarke. Booked: McAllister.

Nottingham Forest (3-5-2): P Smith - K Wilson, I Breckin, J Lynch (sub: G Moussi, 89) - L Chambers (sub: G McCleary, 69), M Thornhill, J Perch, C Cohen, J Bennett (sub: L Martin, 69) - A Cole, N Tyson.

Substitutes not used: A Davies, E Sinclair.

Referee: A D'Urso.