Forest were on the back foot for much of a damp encounter at the Amex, but the visitors held on to stay within three points of the top six in the Championship.
"We'll take our point and move on," said Kelly. "We didn't get a foothold in the first half and when the break came the message was to get higher up the pitch and closer to them.
"We had chances either side of half-time and in the second half we got on the front foot and did a lot better.
"Brighton had opportunities in the first half but we nearly scored ourselves and the second half was much more even."
Kelly conceded that Forest have suffered from inconsistency this season, and he added: "Our squad was put together quite quickly and it takes time to bed in.
"Sometimes you're lucky and you just take off. We're trying to build it sensibly. On July 1, before the new owners came in, we had 10 or 11 players.
"This is a tough league but we are building ourselves up to go anywhere and compete."







