Nottingham Forest 2-1 Middlesbrough

Daryl Murphy scored in his third consecutive Championship game for Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest deservedly beat Middlesbrough to make it three wins from four Championship matches.

Barrie McKay opened the scoring when he slotted past goalkeeper Darren Randolph from Kieran Dowell's through ball.

Britt Assombalonga, who left Forest for Boro in July, missed twice before Ben Gibson's push on Ben Brereton allowed Daryl Murphy to score from the spot.

Gibson stabbed in from a corner to make it 2-1 with seven minutes remaining, but Mark Warbuton's side held on.

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Middlesbrough travelled to the City Ground having kept just one clean sheet in their past 21 league visits and Assombalonga's profligacy in front of goal did not make up for their leaky defence.

Assombalonga left Forest for a club record £15m after scoring 14 goals last season, but he was guilty of poor finishing on return to his old home.

The 24-year-old striker fired two one-on-one opportunities wide, while goalkeeper Jordan Smith also made saves from him and another ex-Forest forward Patrick Bamford.

By contrast, Forest took their chances, with summer signing McKay keeping his head and Murphy converting from the spot as the hosts netted two of their three shots on target.

Nottingham Forest manager Mark Warburton:

"I thought we were very good. We deserved the lead we got from a well-taken goal.

"Middlesbrough are a very strong outfit. They have many Premier League players so, overall, this was a tremendous performance.

"We will take it one game at a time. It doesn't raise expectations."

Middlesbrough manager Garry Monk:

"I can't criticise any of my players today. After the first 25 minutes we got to grips with them and we created some good chances of our own.

"I feel for the players in terms of how we came off the pitch with no points.

"If we played that game again tomorrow we would probably win it with the number of chances we had. We were not clinical enough."