Forest can grow

Brazil sees positives after Warburton axe

performances were excellent. It’s not easy and it’s not a nice industry at times but we have to be professional. We spoke to the players and made it clear that, whatever had gone on, we had to be professional.”

It was hard to make a case for either side to win. In the first half, Leeds’ striker Kemar Roofe came closest as he hooked over from inside the six-yard box after Liam Cooper’s header had been parried by Forest goalkeeper Jordan Smith.

The visitors’ main threat in the opening 45 minutes came through the enterprising play of Barrie McKay, Matthew Cash and Ben Brereton but none of them could fashion a clear opportunity. Roofe had a chance for the hosts 10 minutes into the second half as he was set up superbly by Samuel Saiz but the striker blazed against the crossbar. Forest pressure midway through the second half forced Leeds goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald into action but the German was comfortable with his saves. Pablo Hernandez could have snatched it six minutes from time as he was fed by Saiz but saw his shot blocked by Smith. Brazil said: “The back four and midfield four’s desire to put themselves into good places and make it hard for Leeds to break us down was good. “Right at the end, Jordan made a fantastic save with his feet but, apart from that, we made them shoot from distance and I’d back our keeper from there. We just needed that bit of quality on the final ball and maybe we’d have got more.”

Leeds picked up seven points from a possible 12 over the Christmas period, with defeat at bottom-placed Birmingham on December 30 the only low spot. Manager Thomas Christiansen said: “The players responded in a good way from the Birmingham game. I liked our performance. But it was still not enough.

“I would always like to take points from all our games but, in general, knowing the programme we’ve had and that all teams have the same, I think we have done well.

“We could have picked up more but maybe we could have not got all three points at Hull. This is the difficulty this league has. You can lose against the last and win against the first.”

LEEDS (4-2-3-1): Booked: NOTTINGHAM FOREST (4-2-3-1): Booked: