Last updated on .From the section Championship

Nottingham Forest's penalty, won by Samba Sow, was their first of the season

Lewis Grabban's double earned Nottingham Forest victory over Hull City and put an end to a five-game winless run.

Grabban carefully guided in Forest's first spot-kick of the season for an early lead following Jackson Irvine's clumsy challenge on Samba Sow.

The Tigers had started encouragingly, but rarely threatened after going behind and the Reds looked the more likely to add to their lead, notably through Joe Lolley, Grabban and Ryan Yates.

Jarrod Bowen wasted Hull's best opportunity in the closing stages, but they only mustered one attempt on target throughout.

And Grabban made sure of a win which takes the visitors up to seventh in the Championship, just a point off the play-offs before Preston's evening kick-off against Leeds United, when he played a classy one-two with Tiago Silva and found the bottom corner.

Kamil Grosicki and Bowen predictably provided Hull's main threat throughout but were well stifled by a solid defence, who kept their shape and discipline after taking an 11th-minute lead.

Irvine should have done better with a good chance that he slid over the bar from close range, and a forgettable five minutes saw the Australian's foul allow Grabban the chance to calmly net his 11th goal of the season.

Forest, whose victory is their first in 11 away Boxing Day fixtures, then had the better of the rest of the first half, with Sow seeing a shot saved by keeper George Long and Lolley volleying off target.

Hull started to seize control of possession after the break but continued to create little and were grateful for Long, who made an instinctive save with his feet from Silva's volley.

At the other end, Joe Worrall had to make excellent last-ditch interventions to stop dangermen Grosicki and Bowen.

Sabri Lamouchi's side upped the tempo in the final 15 minutes, Grabban poking an effort just wide and Yates rushing a glorious late chance when he shot wildly off target from 15 yards.

Bowen almost made them pay, miscuing a glancing header from Eric Lichaj's cross, but Grabban made sure of a third consecutive Forest win at Hull with a stylish finish following a swift counter-attack.

Hull manager Grant McCann:

"We were disappointing. There are no excuses - we probably got what we deserved.

"The game was quite stop-start, and that affected how we wanted to play. We kept giving the ball away too easily and we just didn't get going.

"We tried. We huffed and puffed a little bit, but it didn't seem to happen. Everyone was off."

Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi:

"It is not easy to come here and win this way, so congratulations to the players.

"We started the game in a good way. We worked very hard and were very compact.

"I think we deserved to win. Three points and a clean sheet - this is very important. It was not our best performance away but we were very solid."