Preston North End 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Eoin Doyle netted his first goal for Preston to stretch Nottingham Forest's winless run to eight matches.

Doyle scored on the rebound after a swift second-minute breakaway and the hosts held on for a fifth consecutive clean sheet to go above Forest and up to 16th in the Championship table.

Joe Garner almost made it 2-0 but the Reds rallied and Ryan Mendes, Jamie Ward and Nelson Oliveira went close.

A dull second half saw little in the way of chances as Preston held on.

Forest boss Dougie Freedman had dismissed talk of feeling the pressure as a result of his side's poor run, which has now seen them score just twice in six matches and slip to 19th place.

But with key forwards Britt Assombalonga and Matt Fryatt out injured, they once again lacked the finishing touch up front despite having several good opportunities after the early setback.

On-loan Cardiff City striker Doyle scored his first goal in eight appearances for the hosts, finishing past Dorus de Vries at the near post after the goalkeeper had saved from Daniel Johnson.

After Garner headed a good chance over, Forest dominated the first half with Ward going closest when his strike clipped the bar.

The second half provided little action in either penalty box as Forest ran out of ideas against a side happy to trust their in-form defence to ensure victory.

Preston manager Simon Grayson:

"It's a fantastic achievement to get five clean sheets on the trot.

"To do it in any league takes some doing but at this level with the players we've been against.

"There's a huge amount of credit to the lads, as individuals and as a team."

Nottingham Forest manager Dougie Freedman:

"I've seen enough over six or seven games that we are in a very false position.

"I understand that everybody at the football club would be concerned but I'm certainly not from what I see.

"You're going to have difficult moments in a season and this is one - I don't see us anywhere near a relegation battle."