Nottingham Forest's opening fixture of their 2008/2009 Championship campaign ended in a stalemate as Steve Coppell's men held out for a 0-0 draw at the City Ground.

The Reds controlled proceedings for most of the match but it was a fantastic save with ten minutes to go by Paul Smith that allowed Forest a share of the spoils.

Robert Earnshaw, who started upfront on his own because of Forest's striker injury crisis, almost opened the scoring with a clever low shot from 25-yards that went narrowly wide. To be fair, Marcus Hahnemann in the Royals goal had it covered.

Hahnemann had to be on his guard again though as new midfield star and quick becoming terrace legend Guy Moussi fired a 20-yard drive which he smothered low to his left.

Reading began to find their feet but were finding it tough to break Forest's defensive resiliance with Chris Cohen and Wes Morgan both blocking long distance strikes. Things got worse for relegated Reading when Czech Republic midfielder Marek Matejovsky went down injured with suspected ankle ligament damage that he struggled with during the European Championships in the summer.

Kalifa Cisse came on to replace him and it was the substitute who went close in the second half. Stephen Hunt, who was deployed at left full-back following Nicky Shorey's departure to Aston Villa, set him up but he dragged his shot wide of goal. Forest probed but were finding it difficult to create any meaningful chances with big Sonko and Ingarmarsson making Earnshaw look like a midget in comparison.

The Royals came closest to grabbing all three points when Republic of Ireland international Kevin Doyle sent a header towards goal that looked destined for the back of the net but Reds 'keeper Paul Smith plucked the ball from underneath his crossbar before it looped and bounced off the underside of the bar and was hooked away to safety. The save wouldn't have looked out of place in the Premiership and the Sky Television cameras will certainly have backed up what a superb stop it was from a goalkeeper who has certainly had his critics on Trentside.

A clean sheet and a point against one of the relegated sides from the Premiership is a good start in my eyes and certainly gives the lads a solid platform to build on over the coming weeks.

MOTM: Guy Moussi - looks a snip at £280,000 from Angers. Broke-up and then controlled the play in midfield. The Moose is on fire.