Hull City vs Nottingham Forest. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance15,780.
Sunday 29 October 2017 10:16, UK
Kieran Dowell scored a superb hat-trick as Nottingham Forest beat Hull 3-2 in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday evening.
The Everton loanee opened the scoring with a 30-yard finish just before the half-hour mark and increased his side's lead in the second half with a neat finish from Barrie McKay's cut-back.
Hull reduced the arrears when Jarrod Bowen curled a brilliant finish past Jordan Smith but within minutes Forest had restored their two-goal cushion, Dowell completing his hat-trick after David Meyler felled substitute Tyler Walker in the box.
Michael Hector made the visitors sweat when he hit home two minutes from time after a goalmouth scramble but Forest held on to elevate themselves to 11th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Hull had the better of the opening exchanges, dominating possession without threatening the Forest goal, and were made to pay for their lack of enterprise on 29 minutes when Dowell drove forward from midfield and unleashed an unstoppable strike which beat Alan McGregor low to his left.
Meyler should have equalised for Hull moments later when the ball dropped to him inside the box from a corner, but Smith produced a superb reaction save to deny the Republic of Ireland international.
The lively Kamil Grosicki wasted another golden opportunity for the hosts on the stroke of half time when he allowed his first-time drive to be blocked from Bowen's cut-back, but it was Forest who nearly went further ahead on the whistle when Ben Osborn volleyed against the bar from Eric Lichaj's cross.
Dowell looked to have put the game beyond Hull when he placed a finish in off McGregor's post following McKay's tidy cut-back, but Bowen breathed life into his side's hopes of salvaging a draw with a delightful strike which flew high past Smith into the top corner for 2-1.
Forest responded well with substitute Walker breaking into the box, only to be brought down by a clumsy challenge from Meyler, and allowing Dowell the chance to complete a first career hat-trick with a penalty which he took with aplomb, slotting low past McGregor.
Hull gave the visitors a nervous last few minutes when Hector drilled home after Forest failed to clear a corner, but Mark Warburton's side clung on to climb into the top half.
Leonid Slutsky: "We played really right, maybe some mistakes on the last pass but, of course, when we concede the goal, we must play more actively in this situation but the same plan continues. We had a lot of chances, in the first half, in the second half, and of course if we equalised when the score was 1-0, it would be much easier for us because it is 1-1 and new game.
"I don't have any problems with character of players, with team spirit but I think we made (too many) mistakes. The first problem, for me, is we didn't score first and we missed our chances - but we had a lot of chances."
Mark Warburton: "[Dowell has] shown it in bits and pieces this season. We know how talented he is, how gifted he is. And the other side of his game as well, his reaction to losing the ball and that transitional period of the game. But delighted for him. Showed good quality, good finishes, high quality finishes, and he fully deserves the match ball."
He set his team up for the win with two superb finishes and showed excellent composure from the spot to complete his hat-trick. He looked a danger every time he got the ball and Hull had their shape pulled here and there with his movement.
Both sides are back in action at 7.45pm on Tuesday as Hull face Middlesbrough at home and Nottingham Forest travel to Reading.
