Nottingham Forest’s New Zealand striker Chris Wood’s second-half penalty downed Ipswich Town 1-0 at the City Ground on Saturday as he became the club’s joint-top Premier League scorer.

The hosts got the spot kick after 48 minutes when Jota Silva was clipped by Sammie Szmodics and Wood blasted home for his ninth goal of the campaign and 24th in the Premier League for Forest to join their former Dutch winger Bryan Roy’s tally.

Forest were good value for the win, though Ipswich came close to opening the scoring midway through the first half when Cameron Burgess’s glancing header from a corner was cleared off the line by fullback Ola Aina.

Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s side move up to sixth place on 22 points from 13 games, while Ipswich remain in the relegation zone with nine in 19th spot.

“It can be tough some days and you have to grind as a team,” Wood, who has scored 20 goals in 29 games since Nuno took over last December, told the BBC.

“We were great defensively. They gave us problems and they’re a good side. They’ve got a good run at home now.

“It’s fantastic but I want to keep going and keep pushing. The team is delivering chances and opportunities. It’s easy when they’re putting them on a plate.”

Forest had suffered back-to-back defeats but returned to winning ways with a third victory in seven home games this term.

Morgan Gibbs-White headed an early chance wide but there was little else to excite either set of fans in a first half that was devoid of many clear-cut chances.

Wood took his penalty well though and Forest, used to having the lead this season after scored first in 11 of their 13 league games, were able to hold on with some comfort.

Ipswich barely caused alarm for the hosts apart from Burgess’s header and might have lost by a greater margin were it not for a superb save from Arijanet Muric.

Murillo’s header was brilliantly pushed onto the crossbar by Muric and the visitors were able to scramble the ball away.

“I haven’t seen it (the penalty incident). He (Silva) went down in a heap and made a loud noise and a squeal, they sometimes get given because of that,” Burgess said.

“We showed our fitness levels to go right to the end of the game. It’s all about improving and working hard. I think we can keep going and keep improving.”