On 21 July 2011, he signed a new contract at Doncaster which would keep him at the Keepmoat until 2014. Doncaster were relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season and needed to offload players to reduce the wage bill. As a result, he became a subject of interest from several Championship clubs including Barnsley, who he rejected a move to. He apparently had other bids for him, but this is unconfirmed. After a few games, on 31 August, he was loaned to Nottingham Forest until January 2013 where he joined ex-Rovers players Simon Gillett and Billy Sharp under his former manager, Sean O'Driscoll. Dissatisfaction with the lack of games at Forest led him to return to Rovers after the loan spell.