Nottingham Forest vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance23,098.
Saturday 10 February 2018 19:10, UK
Hull ended a run of nine Sky Bet Championship games without a win as they notched a rare success on the road with a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Forest's last win over Hull at the City Ground had come in 1977, when Brian Clough was in charge - and they rarely looked like emerging triumphant against Nigel Adkins' side, from the moment the visitors took the lead in the ninth minute.
That goal came via a Jon Toral header - less than a minute after he had seen a penalty saved by Costel Pantilimon - with Harry Wilson sliding home the second in the 38th minute.
It continued a frustrating start to life for Aitor Karanka as Forest manager, with the Spaniard having now lost five of his first six games in charge.
But it was a change in fortunes for the Tigers, who had collected only 11 points from their previous 33 away games, with their last away success having been at Barnsley in October.
Forest made a bright start to the game, pinning Hull back into their own half, but the Tigers were to draw blood with their first meaningful attack.
When Wilson cut across Eric Lichaj in the box, referee Oliver Langford judged that the Forest man had used a hand to impede his progress, and pointed to the spot.
Toral planted the ball on the spot and looked confident enough, but Pantilimon had other ideas, diving low to his right to claw away his penalty, with Joe Worrall clearing the loose ball over the bar.
If Forest thought the job was done, they were mistaken, however. Seb Larsson delivered the resulting corner back into the danger zone and Toral had the time and space to send a simple header into the back of the net from five yards to give the visitors a ninth-minute lead.
Apostolos Vellios drove a shot wide of the target before Matty Cash went agonisingly close to an equaliser. The Forest midfielder drove through two challenges on the edge of the box and, as space opened up, fired in a low shot that bounced away off the inside of the post.
And, in the 38th minute, the Tigers took a stronger hold on the game by doubling their advantage with a goal on the counter-attack.
Will Keane powered into space down the right and drove in a low ball across the face of goal and into the centre, where Wilson was arriving to drive it high into the net from close range.
Forest introduced Lee Tomlin at half-time and he immediately tricked and flicked his way down the left flank, before curling a pass into the area that eluded both Vellios and Adlene Guedioura, with the latter feeling he had been pulled back as he tried to connect.
Hull then saw Jarrod Bowen send a good chance over the bar, when he might have made it 3-0.
Aitor Karanka: "I told the players that this is about pressure and managing pressure. It is not easy to play in this situation. They will soon tell me and show me who is ready to play.
"I came here to win games and be successful and I am not going to stop until we make that happen. It was another poor afternoon and I hope it is the last one. It is difficult to understand. We have to keep going. I understand the crowd's frustration. I am still confident. We have made a lot of changes in the last two weeks."
Nigel Adkins: "It was good to win, we're working extremely hard and we've scored a goal right from the start and the second was counter-attacking football at its best. We should have scored a third and I thought we were very resolute and Forest didn't have any chances. The players showed the determination and we've been working hard.
"We have probably played better than that away from home and not won. It was a structured performance and a well deserved victory. I didn't realise we were out of the bottom (three) of the table."
