Reading 0
Forest 1 (McGugan 61)

The Royals were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest this Saturday in another hugely frustrating Coca-Cola Championship encounter at Madejski Stadium.

Reading were streets ahead of the visitors in the first half, and Jimmy Kebe should have put us 1-0 up in the first two minutes but instead shot wide.

Brynjar Gunnarsson was a foot away with a header soon after, and we then had a couple of decent penalty claims but Forest somehow managed to keep us out.

The visitors seemed content to run the clock down for the entire second period, but they snatched a good goal on the hour with a low individual effort from Lewis McGugan after he danced down the left hand side.

We never found any rhythm after the break, and we threw everything forward but failed to create a real chance that could have brought an equaliser.

Reading had started with Marek Matejovsky, Noel Hunt and Brynjar Gunnarsson, while Kevin Doyle was handed the captain's armband for the first time.

Defeats for Wolves and Cardiff once again softened the blow of this defeat - but it was another opportunity missed, especially after dominating in the first half.

Reading (4-4-2): Federici; Rosenior, Armstrong (Lita 77), Duberry, Pearce; Matejovsky, Gunnarsson (Cisse 77), Kebe (Tabb 60), S Hunt; Doyle (c), N Hunt.
Subs: Hahnemann, Harper
Booked: Rosenior (foul 67)

Nottingham Forest (4-5-1): Smith; Chambers, Lynch, Morgan (c), Wilson; Moussi; Cohen, McGugan (Thornhill 81); Anderson, Tyson (McCleary 30); Earnshaw (Breckin 86)
Subs: Gamble, Heath
Booked: Earnshaw (dissent 70), Morgan (foul 81), Thornhill (dissent 90)

Attendance: 21,196

First half
Reading came flying out of the traps at the start - and winger Jimmy Kebe really should have put us ahead with less than two minutes on the clock.

Kevin Doyle did brilliantly down the left, and whipped in a cross right over to the back post. It came over the full back's head and Kebe took a touch eight yards out. With the goal to aim at, he perhaps got caught in two minds about whether to square it but skewed a couple of feet wide.

Backed by good positive support, we kept the early momentum and former Forest man Brynjar Gunnarsson headed Stephen Hunt's free kick no more than a foot over the bar on five minutes - and it seemed certain the goals would come as we had started very well.

Forest winger Paul Anderson was well off target with a skidding shot, and down the other end Liam Rosenior tried his luck from fully 20 yards but it was well held down low by Paul Smith in the visitors' goal.

Reading were dominant at this stage, and Alex Pearce saw a header comfortably saved after Rosenior's cracking whipped cross from wide on the right wing.

The pressure was mounting and on the 16 minute mark we had two penalty shouts in the space of 60 seconds. First Stephen Hunt looked to be pulled back as a ball dropped from the sky, but play was allowed to continue and Noel Hunt saw his snapshot blocked and put out for a corner.

The resulting set piece was whipped all the way to the back post and there looked to be a case for handball - but again nothing was given and defender Michael Duberry instantly smashed the loose ball well over the crossbar.

Reading were getting forward at every opportunity, and Rosenior again shot from range; Smith's parry lucky to fall to safety in the middle of his penalty area.

Forest had the odd foray forward, but Alex Pearce did well to deal with Robert Earnshaw just before the half four. Soon afterwards former Reading man Nathan Tyson had to come off through injury, an unfortunate return to Berkshire for him.

Moments later we tried a cheeky corner routine a la Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney, with Marek Matejovsky finding Stephen Hunt but the Irishman chipping over.

Forest were unquestionably second best, and their bench incurred the wrath of the Madejski Stadium faithful for kicking a loose ball back into play as we prepared to take a throw in, and it seemed to signal a succession of instances where Forest looked to run the clock down and frustrate our tempo.

We tailed off a little toward the end of the half, but Noel Hunt still had a header saved, Smith comfortably gathering.

The Royals had been well on top, and the only thing missing in that first half was a goal for our efforts and vastly superior play in all areas of the pitch

Second half
Despite their first half performance, Reading just seemed to lack any of the same tempo and penetration after the break.

Unquestionably, Forest were looking to tick the clock down at every single opportunity and their actions went unchecked by the referee Neil Swarsbrick for long periods.

We were getting more and more frustrated, and the emotions seemed to affect our performance as we really could not get going at all and find a pattern.

This gave Forest more belief, and Adam Federici made a very good save from Chris Cohen just before the hour mark.

Soon, Jay Tabb was on for his debut in place of Kebe.

But we only held on for three more minutes until the visitors found the back of the net. Lewis McGugan burst forward down the right, cut inside two men and placed home a low left-footed drive right into Federici's corner.

The goal was a real blow, and one from which we struggled to recover. There was a brief cheer as Earnshaw became the first Forest man finally booked for time wasting after the umpteenth infringement on Federici.

Leroy Lita and Kalifa Cisse were thrown on as we looked to salvage something from the game, but we just could not get the ball for any significant amount of time.

When the board went up to show five minutes of added time it gave us a final chance to get men forward, and Lita's flicked header dropped a few feet wide - but it never really looked like going in and Smith watched it comfortably.

When the final whistle came it was a real blow to the heart. We had been completely on top in the first half but the second half was one of the most frustrating 45 minutes you could wish [not] to see. We never found our rhythm, allowed ourselves to become frustrated with the opposition's tactics on and off the pitch, and crucially did not create a chance.

That early opportunity for Kebe should and probably would have made all the difference had it gone in, but it ultimately proved another bad day at the office.

Thankfully the results of teams around us once again minimised the damage, but we will be looking to get our own season back on track - and quickly.