Both teams seemed to have one eye on the league rather than this FA Cup match. It lacked the heart and commitment that is normally associated to the competition.
The game had to wait until the 20th minute for a shot on target from either side with Neil Clement's effort from 20 yards for the visitors which went just wide of keeper Darren Ward's post.
The closest the home side came to scoring in the first half was on 39 minutes when Irish international Andy Reid crossed to Taylor who rose at the back post to flick on but no one was on hand to finish.
The only goal of the game came on the 53rd minute. Albion forward Geoff Horsfield was in his own box defending when he clumsily brought down Mathieu Louis-Jean in front of referee Kay.
The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and after Marlon King and Andy Reid had words over who was to take the penalty, King won the argument and scored the first goal for his new club since he moved to the City ground from Gillingham.
The game lit up in the last ten minutes when the visitors began to realise that they were heading for an early Cup exit.
There was more controversy when O'Connor, in a rush to take an early throw, was denied the ball from the ball boy. O'Connor then pushed the ball boy over which made the stewards alert the police.
It all ended bad-tempered as we were deep into injury time.
So Forest march into the fourth round and West Brom can concentrate to holding onto their automatic promotion spot and a place in the Premiership.
Afterwards, Forest boss Paul Hart said: "Tactically we got it right. We played differently and it was meant to be as ugly as we could make it. I am delighted we played well from start to finish."