Nottingham Forest 0 Hull City 1: Tigers bring to an end Forest run thanks to Fryatt’s striking effort

The home side had not lost a regular season match on home soil since September 2009, a run stretching back to 36 games, but Matty Fryatt’s 64th-minute strike earned the Tigers a famous win.

Hull created little aside from Fryatt’s goal, which came after a pass from centre-half James Chester had deflected into the striker’s path. But the victory keeps them on target for a place in the top six come May.

The last team to claim victory at the City Ground was Blackpool, who went on to defeat Forest again in the play-offs as they secured promotion to the Premier League.

Assistant manager Craig Shakespeare refused to get carried away by this success, however, and said there was a long way to go for his side.

“To come here and take that record is a great achievement, but it means nothing if we don’t perform in the other games,” he said. “Confidence-wise, who knows, it could be something massive, you can never tell.

“If you ask me about the play-offs, who knows where we can end up?

“We’ve got to try and win each ga me and that will take care of itself as there are a lot of points still to play for.

“I do believe if you can be hard to beat, which we are at the moment, you’ve got a chance.”

Shakespeare was delighted by the Tigers’ defensive display and added: “I thought the back five were immense today.

“We know at times we rode our luck, but they are a good side.”

Nottingham Forest boss Billy Davies was in defiant mood despite the loss his team’s proud home record.

“We are joint-top in terms of the most wins since January. We have lost, before today, two games in sixteen matches. We were 36 games undefeated at the City Ground and we’ve got nine players missing through injury. My glass is half full.

“I’ve got to be realistic. We’ve lost a bit of fluency, of course, with nine injuries. That’s not an excuse, that’s a fact.

“But we are in the top six, three points off second place. There’s a long way to go but I’m delighted to be where we are. I’m very proud of the home record. We were never going to go on forever with this run, it had to end.”

Nottm Forest: Camp, Gunter, Chambers, Morgan, Konchesky, Anderson (Adebola 78), McGugan (McCleary 65), Majewski, Cohen, Earnshaw (Rodney 70), Tudgay. Unused substitutes: Smith, McGoldrick, Moloney, Bennett.

Hull: Mannone, Rosenior, Chester, Gerrard, Dawson, Koren (Hobbs 79), Harper, Evans, Simpson (Amoo 56), Fryatt, Mclean (Barmby 57). Unused substitutes: Oxley, Garcia, Cairney, Belaid.

Referee: S Hooper (Wiltshire).

Man of the match: Matty Fryatt.