Royals denied victory at Forest
Paul Smith produced a spectacular late save as relegated Reading were denied victory on their Coca-Cola Championship return by Nottingham Forest.
The hosts had controlled much of the game at the City Ground but were happy to settle for a goalless draw after Kevin Doyle’s header brought the best out of Smith 10 minutes from time.
And Smith’s brilliant effort certainly brought a wry smile to the face of his former manager Steve Coppell.
The Reading boss said: “It was the one opening we had in the game and it just happened to be Paul who got in the way of it. I gave him a regular spot in the Brentford team when I was there.
“It was a great save but I won’t tell you what I said to him afterwards.
“Outside of that we created a lot of potential situations but they all seemed to filter away into nothing.
“I think both teams wanted to get out there and find out exactly where they were after five weeks of pre-season. A promoted team against a relegated team was an interesting start.
“I don’t think we produced the kind of performance we would have really liked but that had a lot to do with the way Forest were set up.
“The midfield was very congested and it was difficult for us to create, particularly when we lost Marek Matejovsky through injury in the first half.”
Outside of the 80th-minute chance when Doyle’s thumping header from Stephen Hunt’s cross was turned onto the bar, there was very little in the way of goalmouth incident from either side.
With new striker signings Andrew Cole and Joe Garner injured, it left Robert Earnshaw as Forest’s lone front runner and he found it difficult against Reading’s towering defenders.
He got away just the once – in the last minute – but he was driven wide and could not get the purchase on his shot that he would have liked.
But, without a real cutting edge, Forest can take credit from an overall performance that restricted Reading to their one opening.
Manager Colin Calderwood said: “We knew it would be tough against Reading but we are a Championship side now and we have to be judged on that.
“I’m quite satisfied with the way it panned out and I certainly wouldn’t want to use our lack of strikers as an excuse. You have to cope with injuries even though I would like to bring someone in while we are getting people fit.
“I thought we competed well with Reading but we know we have to improve if we are going to build on what we achieved last season.
“We did tire a little bit in the second half when we wanted to kick on but in terms of fitness we just need to get matches behind us and we’ll be fine.”
