Davies will take over at the City Ground on Monday in the wake of a hugely disappointing reverse at Ashton Gate, where deposed Forest boss Sean O'Driscoll is now in charge.
Kelly felt Forest acquitted themselves well and that City's opening goal, a deflected shot just after Billy Sharp had hit the post, proved to be a real sucker punch.
"The performance was good in spells and we created more opportunities than they did, but the bottom line is we lost 2-0," Kelly said.
"I thought we started well and they didn't really look like scoring. The goal changed the game - we tried to get forward players on the pitch to try and affect it but they were well-organised, compact and sat very deep.
"We won't sulk - we'll dust ourselves down and look forward to working with a new manager on Monday. I'm sure he'll have an impact.
"There is obviously something missing and I'm sure Billy Davies will be able to pinpoint what that is. The biggest job will be to sort out the team's inconsistency because that has been our main weakness.
"By looking at it coldly from the outside I am sure he will be able to come up with some ideas. Those of us close to the players know there is no problem with their level of commitment."
Davies opted to miss the game and Kelly added: "I am sure Billy was taking in another game. He will study this one on DVD and in any case he knows a lot of the players very well."







