Nottingham Forest 2-1 Hull City

Keane Lewis-Potter’s superb goal proved to no avail as Hull City suffered a first defeat in seven matches at the hands of in-form Nottingham Forest. The 20-year-old’s exceptional touch and finish put the Tigers ahead just before half-time but Lewis Grabban’s disputed penalty and Brennan Johnson’s calm finish gave Forest victory.

Grant McCann named an unchanged matchday squad as the Tigers bid to make it seven Championship games unbeaten, against a Forest side undefeated in their previous eight. The reinvigorated Reds had lost only once since the arrival of ex-Swansea City boss Steve Cooper in September and engineered the first opportunity inside eight minutes.

Jack Colback crossed from the left towards Grabban in the middle but the experienced forward mishit his volley into the ground, with the ball bouncing to safety. Grabban escaped his marker to meet James Garner’s low free-kick at the near post but diverted his flicked effort wide of Nathan Baxter’s left-hand upright.

The Tigers were opened up down the left on 28 minutes as Djed Spence’s cute backheel released Johnson but he side-footed narrowly wide of the far post. Forest boasted over 70% possession in a dominant opening 35 minutes but the Tigers grew in stature as half-time approached.

Greg Docherty’s 25-yarder took a big deflection, making it easy for Brice Samba to claim, and Mallik Wilks’ delicate left-footed free-kick from the edge of the box found the side-netting.

The improving Tigers were enjoying a promising spell and took the lead two minutes before the break thanks to a moment of magic from Lewis-Potter. His exquisite touch with the outside of his right foot from Sean McLoughlin’s inch-perfect lofted pass took him effortlessly past Spence before smashing a fierce shot beyond Samba from eight yards. The goal oozed quality and Lewis-Potter almost helped himself to another, glancing a free near-post header wide from Honeyman’s corner.

Read the full report – here

Nottingham Forest (3-4-3): Brice Samba; Joe Worrall, Ryan Yates, Scott McKenna; Djed Spence, James Garner, Jack Colback, Jordi Osei-Tutu (Alex Mighten 40’ (Joao Carvalho 56’)); Brennan Johnson, Lewis Grabban (C), Philip Zinckernagel (Tobias Figueiredo 79’).
Subs not used: Ethan Horvath, Gaetan Bong, Cafu, Lyle Taylor.

Hull City (3-4-1-2): Nathan Baxter; Di’Shon Bernard, Sean McLoughlin, Jacob Greaves; Keane Lewis-Potter, Richie Smallwood (C), Greg Docherty, Ryan Longman (Callum Elder 64’); George Honeyman; Mallik Wilks (Tyler Smith 64’), Josh Magennis (Tom Eaves 81’).
Subs not used: Matt Ingram, Andy Cannon, Randell Williams, Tom Huddlestone.

Attendance: 26,513 (1,717 Hull City supporters).