the season owing to the knee injury sustained during the match. Recovering from injury, Hobbs made his return to the team on 9 December 2012 in a 2–1 defeat away to Watford, pairing with Alex Bruce at centre-back. He played 22 times for the club in the 2012–13 season, which saw Hull City promoted to the Premier League as Championship runners-up. Nottingham Forest After Hull City were promoted to the Premier League, the club informed Hobbs that he was no longer required. In July 2013, Sky Sports reported that Championship club Nottingham Forest were interested in signing him. He signed a loan deal with Nottingham Forest on 16 July 2013, with a condition that it become permanent on a two-year contract at the end of the 2013–14 season. Hobbs said that it would be an honour for him "to play for a club the size of Nottingham Forest". He made his debut on 3 August in a 1–0 home victory over Huddersfield Town. He scored his first goal on 28 September in a 1–0 home victory over Derby County, heading in an Andy Reid corner before half-time. On 24 January 2014, Hull recalled him because of an injury to defender James Chester. However, on 31 January, Hobbs signed permanently for Nottingham Forest on a four-and-a-half-year contract, for a fee reported by Sky Sports to be worth "close to £1million". After signing, he played twice before being ruled out of the rest of the season in March due to an ankle fracture. In August 2014, Hobbs played his first match after his injury for the reserve team in a 0–0 draw against Burton Albion. However, he injured himself during the East Midlands derby against Derby County in September. In the following month he underwent surgery which ruled him out of action for three months. On 14 February 2015, during a 4–4 draw against Blackpool, he suffered a hamstring injury and was ruled out of play for a month. The club's manager Dougie Freedman blamed the condition of the Bloomfield Road pitch for the injury. After recovering from his injury, he played the whole 90 minutes of a match against Brentford in April. Hobbs played his first match of the 2015–16 seasonon 7 August 2015 in a match against Brighton & Hove Albion. Though the match ended in a 1–0 defeat for Forest, he formed a strong defensive partnership along with Matt