Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-1 in their final pre-season friendly against Hull City despite a strong second-half showing at The City Ground.

An early brace from Adama Diomande put the visitors in charge and although Oliver Burke halved the arrears with three minutes to play, Forest couldn't find a late equaliser as their pre-season campaign ended with a defeat.





After an event start to the contest, Hull took the lead with only six minutes on the clock. Mohamed Diame broke away down the left-hand side and Diomande was on hand with a smart close-range finish to turn the ball past Dorus de Vries.





The visitors were showing signs of their Premier League quality and almost doubled the lead on 12 minutes. A swift counter-attack saw Andrew Robertson play Jarrod Bowen in behind the Forest defence but de Vries made a good stop with his legs to keep the young striker at bay.





It wasn't long before Hull did have a two-goal advantage and it was Diomande again who found the net. Ahmed Elmohamady swung over a dangerous cross from the right-hand side and the Norwegian striker powered home a header into bottom corner of the net.





Forest captain Chris Cohen had to replaced by Jorge Grant shortly before the half-hour mark through injury but The Reds then started to get a foothold in the game. Hull keeper Eldin Jakupovic was called into action as he made a diving save to prevent Ben Osborn's drive from finding the far corner.





Philippe Montanier's side were visually growing in confidence and almost halved the deficit in spectacular fashion before the break. With the ball bouncing around inside the Hull penalty area, Apostolos Vellios thought quickly and sent a overhead kick towards goal which Jakupovic had to push away from danger.





Forest made a bright start to the second half and played with a much better tempo. Oliver Burke had two snapshots from just outside the penalty area but substitute goalkeeper Dusan Kuciak was able to make solid saves to prevent both from finding the net.





Vellios was replaced on 69 minutes by Britt Assombalonga and the Greek's contribution earned him a strong ovation from the crowd inside The City Ground.





Hildeberto had been a lively presence down the right-hand channel all afternoon and he almost brought Forest back into the game but his powerful drive from 25 yards was pushed away by Kuciak.





Forest's positive second-half performance had not quite delivered the rewards it perhaps deserved and there was another example of that on 77 minutes. Grant sent a curling effort which was destined for the far corner before Kuciak intervened with an excellent fingertip save around the post.





Eventually the reward came three minutes from time. Burke latched onto a loose pass from Curtis Davies, raced in on goal and produced a composed low finish underneath the body of Kuciak.





There was almost time for an equaliser as Hull were forced to scramble the ball away from their own goal-line as Assombalonga threatened to pounce but Forest couldn't find the late leveller ahead of next weekend's Sky Bet Championship opener against Burton Albion.



