Grabban’s double is big boost for Forest

FOREST manager Sabri Lamouchi wants his side to end their poor run of results at home when Wigan visit the City Ground.

Forest have not tasted victory at home in their past three outings, but did end a five-match winless streak when a Lewis Grabban double secured victory at in-form Hull to spark their play-off hopes.

Lamouchi is keen to maintain that level of performance. “At home, I don’t think it’s pressure, but we are more open and we miss a lot of chances,” he said. “I hope we learn from our mistakes and can build on this result.

“Lewis was our leader on the pitch. He’s a fantastic player, but we always need to help him.

“Sometimes he finishes a game without having any chances, but it’s not easy and we need to help him.

“To wait six games is a long time for a victory. The attitude from the team, playing away, is different.”

The hosts should have gained a fifth-minute lead when Jarrod Bowen’s free-kick from the right caused unease within the Forest back-line.

Midfielder Jackson Irvine was quickest to react from the resulting skirmish, but he somehow fired over the crossbar. If Irvine was frustrated by that miss, the Australia international’s mind would have been even cloudier when he contributed to Forest’s opener six minutes later after fouling Samba Sow inside the box.

Referee Geoff Eltringham pointed towards the penalty spot, from which Grabban battered the ball down the middle.

In deteriorating conditions, Forest continued to catch the eye after the restart, with Tiago Silva’s volley testing George Long.

Seemingly out of ideas, Hull became dependent upon the long ball.

Forest sub Ryan Yates should later have sealed th win, but he put Joe Lolley’s dragback across the face of goal wide.

Yates’ miss was irrelevant as Grabban added a second on the counter-attack with a fierce hit from the right of the penalty area following more good work from Silva.

Hull head coach Grant McCann acknowledged that his side would need to turn their form around quickly ahead of the trip to QPR.

He said: “There are no excuses – we got what we deserved. We huffed and puffed, but it didn’t happen. Everyone was off. We’ve got to go to QPR and get a response.”