It should be the best of times for Nottingham Forest but the great expectations of securing an historic Champions League spot risk making it the worst if they miss out. A Murillo mistake gifted Everton victory in stoppage time as the pressure started to show at the City Ground.

The Brazilian centre-back lost the ball just inside the Everton half, allowing Dwight McNeil to breakaway and slip in Abdoulaye Doucouré to finish the job in the 94th minute. The visitors deserved the win against Forest who did not live up to their lofty position of third place amid a disappointing performance.

Neither Forest nor Everton are used to enjoying the majority of possession, making an intriguing spectacle when such sides meet. The hosts stuck to their usual plan of foregoing use of the ball, waiting to play on the counter. This meant the visitors were given the rare opportunity to control proceedings but they had few ideas of how to break through the disciplined Forest defence in the early stages. It took almost 20 minutes for either side to have a shot of note when Jack Harrison thrashed the ball wildly over from the edge of the box.

There is an expectation inside and outside Nottingham that Champions League football will come to the City Ground next season. Such grandiose ambitions have brought tension to the run-in as nerves jangle at the prospect of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich rocking up. The fact the former Arsenal sporting director Edu was sat in the directors’ box as he is set to take up a role in Evangelos Marinakis’s multi-club group shows the growing ambition.

Everton created a few half chances that Iliman Ndiaye failed to threaten Matz Sels with as the opening half hour passed without major incident, bar from the odd foul or two. After the break the Senegalese forward got the wrong side of Neco Williams, allowing a one-on-one chance with Sels but the goalkeeper held firm.

Chris Wood struggled to make an impression on his return from injury. Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images

Forest have the ability to control a match without having the ball at their feet, biding their time and picking the right moment to hit opponents on the counter but Everton stifled them. They were boosted by the return of Chris Wood from injury, giving them a focal point in attack they lacked in last weekend’s defeat by Aston Villa, although he was not afforded any opportunities before the break and did not look up to speed. As a team chasing Champions League football against one whose season is effectively over, it felt like Forest should be offering greater impetus.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s potential solution was to send Anthony Elanga on for Jota Silva close to the hour mark. It lifted the mood of the crowd whose only vague excitement prior to that were two Callum Hudson-Odoi shots easily saved by Jordan Pickford.

It felt like if one team was to get an opener, it would be Everton who looked dangerous from set-pieces but Forest had previously kept four clean sheets in as many home games. Doucouré had a chance at the back post but that was blocked by a diving Williams.

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Doucouré made no mistake next time as he kept his cool to beat Sels when through on goal, showing everyone inside the City Ground how to keep cool in a tense situation.

Maybe Forest prefer to be underdogs but they are in pole position and they need to cope with the pressure that comes with it.

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